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AN 



ANSWER 



SIX MONTHS IN A CONVENT, 

EXPOSING ITS y-'^ . . 

FALSEHOODS AND MANIFOLD ABSURDITIES. 



BY THE LADY SUPERIOR. 



'jC * » A WITH soiiE'-^ '> 



WITH soke'- 



PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 



THIRD EDITION. 




S. A. 



.'/ 



BOSTON: 

PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY J. H. EASTBURN, 

18 SUle Street. 

1836 






5S 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1835, by John H. 
Eastbxtrn, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts. 



PRELIMINARY REMARKS 



It is an old adage, that a lie will travel many leagues, while truth 
is putting on his hoots. No doui)t siirh will he the case, with the 
stories of Rehecca T. Reed, aided as tliey are by men, wlio have 
enlisted in the crusade against Catholics and Catholic lustitnrions. 

The book recently published by her and her disciples, entitled 
"Six iMoiiths in a Convent," is of an extraordinary character. It is 
believed, that no book professing to state facts, ever issued from the 
press, containing so little trulh, in pru[)ortion to the whole n.atter. 
Even the title page contains a inistatcniciit, as she was in the Con- 
vent only four tnontiis and a few days. Her part of the work is ush- 
ered in by an introduction, written by one or more of her votaries, 
equal in quantity of matter to the whole of her narrative; it is like 
one of those coming events, which "cast their shadows before;" — 
if the body of it was intended to impose upon the ])ublic, the intro- 
duction very faithfully ai/ls in the design. There may be some 
difference, however, in the moral responsibility of the parties, if it 
be true as the writers of the latter say, that they fully believe every 
thing stated in the former. If it shall ajjjjear, as we believe it will, 
that I\Iiss ll's narrative is a tissue of misrepresentations calculated 
and designed to destroy the character of the Ursuline Community, 
the Committee of Publication as they are called, nmst hang upon 
one horn of a dilemma. Either they believe it or they do not. If 
they are honest l)clievers, their understandings are brought into con- 
tempt, if not, they arc willing accessaries to as wicked a production 
as ever disgraced the i)ress. The man who can give credence to 
the alleged cons|)iracy of Bishop Fenwick, and the Superior to send 
Miss Reed against her inclination across the country to some place 
in Canada, or to the story about the bushel of gold, is past the in- 
fluence of reason. He may be at once delivered over to the class of 
incurables, without the least danger of mistake. 

Hut we do not believe in their truth in this [larticular. The man 
who could write that introduction is not the person to be so easily 
duped. On the other hand he shows tiiat he wants neither the will 
nor the capacity to dupe others. The object of this part of the book 



IV 

is not truth or the public good, or the vindication of private charac- 
ter, as is pretended, but to exasperate the public mind against Cath- 
olics and Catholic institutions ; to persecute tlieni through the medi- 
um of |»opu]ar opinion, and drive theui from the country as the ene- 
mies of true religion and of civil liberty. Not content vviih seeing the 
few defenceless and pious females composing the Ursuline Commu- 
nity, driven from their habitation at midnight and their property de- 
stroyed ; not satisfied with screening the jierpelrators from punish- 
ment, and even exhibiting these worthies as public benefactors ; (not 
In direct terms perhaps but by their acts, and the general scope of their 
arguments;) they have now finished another act of the drama, by a 
most foul attempt to blast the fair character of this Community and 
its individual members. It has been with a view to accomplish these 
(designs, that the narrative of this weak-minded fanatical feuiale has 
been given to the public. It was seen that her stories would answer 
to gull the ignorant and unreflecting portion of the people, and that 
it would give themselves an opportunity to figure in her train: — 
they come forward like the Chorus in the old drama, or a Commit" 
tee of arrangements in modern times, to make the spectacle complete 
land to fill up the chasms in the chain of fiction and romance. They 
saw that the narrative must be fortified and the credit of the author 
sustained in advance, by the niacliinery of a Committee of Publi- 
cation, — by consultation with " sedate and respectable persons, and 
by prayerful consideration of their duty." Such canting language 
from the reputed author of the introduction, is a sure presage of an 
evil design to impose upon the reader, and we shall prove to the 
meanest capacity, that the avowed design of the publication of Miss 
R's narrative was not the true cne, but that it was to serve merely 
as a scaffolding to the introduction, and that the latter is the real 
book designed to write down Catholicity, and to increase and ex- 
tend the hatred and intolerance, already existing on the part of Pro- 
testant toward Catholic christians. If we are right, the design is a 
most unholy one, and in violation of the most extolled precepts of 
the Christian religion. 

The introduction is marked in sufficiently strong lines, with the 
chicanery of the lawyer, the zeal of the sectarian, the intolerance of 
the bigot, and that disregard of truth and accuracy which so pecu- 
liarly belongs to the author of the narrative which follows it. The 
three first of these characteristics it will hardly be necessary to point 
out to the intelligent reader ; and to the prejudiced and determined 
believers in the book, it would be useless. When the names of the 
Publishing Committee shall be known, we shall no doubt find ex- 
cellent specimens of each. 

It was seen from the moment of the publication of the Report of 



the Boston Investigating C^inniittee, liiat Miss Reed and her repu- 
tation were objects of the greatest possil)le solicitude to the enemies 
of the Convent. It is difficult to conceive thut there was any tiling 
in her ovrn character to make her a person of so much interest and 
consetiuence. Several editors of religious and secular pajters came 
out in her favor, and spoke of her as a personal acquaintance, and 
the report seemed to be |nd>lished in several papers, solely with a 
view to tind fault with it for the manner in which she had been 
treated in it. She was called the ^^hithetto respectable,^' the inter- 
esting,'' the " amiable," the "intelligent ^ouHg* /«(/]/," " daughter of 
a native citizen," and that her character should be sacrificed, or 
even brought into suspicion, for the sake of defending the eight or 
ten foreign females in the Convent, was considered little less than 
treason. In a woini, the report, though made after a long and care- 
ful inquiry, by a large numlmr of the most inttiJIigent gentlemen in 
the city, was attacked without mercy, as unfair in its premises and 
conclusions, and unworthy of confidence, so far as Miss Reed was 
implicated. 

A letter published in the Courier, early in January, by Judge Fay, 
for another purj)ose, (iniprudently, it seems, had he regarded his 
own peace) refers the editor to Miss Reed for information as to the 
causes which led to the destruction of the Convent, plainly intima- 
ling, like the Boston Committee Report, that her stories materially 
contributed to it. These were the ordy publications, as far as we 
know, that contained any thing like a reflection uj)on the character 
of Miss U. In addition to a promf)t denial by Miss R. of the justice 
of the suggestions as regarded her, in a letter to the editor of the Cou- 
rier, republished in the introduction to Miss R's book, and written 
no doubt by the same hand, many other articles ajipeared in the 
same and other papers, charging the ha|)less Judge with an ungen- 
erous attack on an iimocent and defenceless female. Those things 
which were too scurrilous or too false to appear in the Boston pa- 
pers, were sent to New York, to come bark to tliis community fn a 
paper of the most reckless character, called the Protestant Vindica- 
tor. The Judge miglit well have exclaimed with poor Lear, 

" The littli; dogs anJ all, 
Tray, Blanche, and Sweetheart, see, they bark at me." 

In the same s[)irit, and with the same view, iie is treated in the in- 
troduction in a manner, unfair and malignant to the last degree. 
Even the remarks of Buzzell's counsel, to the Jury, — counsel paid 
to defend a desperate cause, and allowed to assume any position 
consistent with law and evidence, are introduced as an evidence of 
an excitement of mind on the part of Judge F. in order to diminish 
the weight of his testimony. This might have been pardonable in 



VI ' 

them, but in the writers of the introduction it is contemptible, and 
shows to what desperate shifts they are willing to resort, to protect 
the credit o{ ihe'w protegee. 

Mrs. F. is also introduced, without the least reason, and connect- 
ed with the most slanderous suggestions. See page 3;' — 34. The 
writer says, " One of the few conversations she (Miss R.) held on 
the sul)je(!t, was the one which Judge F. lias brought before the pub- 
lic, and misrepresented, with marked disregard to delicacy, because the 
conversation he uses to establish his charge of conspiracy against 
the Convent, was held with his own wife, at her urgent solicitation." 
Now, by looking back to page 26, it will be perceived that the Judge's 
letter alludes to no conversation of Miss R. with any person in par- 
ticular. On the contrary he speaks of Miss R. as a person " who had 
been about Boston and liic vicinity, for the last two or three years, 
announcing heiself as the humble instrument in the hands of Prov- 
idence to destroy the institution at Mt. Benedict ;" plainly intima- 
ting that it was a common language held to different persons, not in 
Cambridge particularly, but in Boston and the vicinity. Does not 
this show a consciousness of guilt on tiie part of Miss Reed? This 
is a fair specimen of the disregard of truth and accuracy, which 
marks almost every })age of the introduction. Like master, like 
man; as the book is, so is its preface. Further, two short notes are 
inserted (it is wonderful they should have been preserved so long,) 
to prove ^^ uj-gent solicitation and pressing earnestness for an inter- 
view," which they have the hardihood to say " the Judge has oblig- 
ed the Connnittee to publish." They say that Mrs. F. solicited an 
interview and that Miss R. declined calling at ]\!rs. F's, but was wil- 
ling to have Mrs. F. call on her, and yet the note of Mrs. F. which 
follows inmiediately after, jjroves that she was not very anxious 
in the matter, as she gave up the opi)ortunity of seeing her for 
some other engagement. It also proves, that except on that day, 
Miss R. was willing to call on Mrs. F. as tlie letter in answer 
to Miss R's note fixes the hour for Miss R. to call. Then fol- 
lows the unfounded and injurious suggestion that a conversation 
drawn from an artless young lady, (very artless, very young, and very 
much of a lady !) was treasured up nearly two years, to be made 
public in a distorted form, in order to charge upon her a conspiracy. 

The next jjaragraph is also of an infamous character. We knov/, 
say they, that it has been thrown out by way of threat, that should 
her narrative be pul)lished, " her veracity would be destroyed by 
means of spies in the guise of friends, who had watched her 
ever since she had escaped from the Convent, and taken down her 
conversation in writing in order to detect her in some contradictions, 
&c. &c. This is a Reedism in perfection. Her conscience awakes 



VII 

her suspicions. If she never held any or but very few conversations 
on this subject, as she says, wlio would have conceived sucli an idea? 
Her Conunittee say, she had always lived retired in tiie bosotn of 
her family — never told her stories even to her own sisters, and but 
to two other persons, and yet iier conversations are of so much con- 
sequence in her own eyes, and so extensively known or sus|»ected, as 
to make it an object with somebody, lo iiroless a counterfeit friend- 
ship fur lier, attend her at all times, and be prepared lo write down 
her trash, and after all, unless she jjermitted her narrative to be pub- 
lishe<l, her veracity was not to be attacked, and aHiMthis immense 
precaution would be lost. At the close of this specimen of her 
and their understanding, Mrs. F's name is connected with it in 
terms of apparent resjiect on the part of the writer, and yet in a 
manner calculated to excite the suspicion that she might have sought 
this conversation for such a sinister jturpose. 

The introduction speaks, in several |)Iaces, about threats and de- 
nunciations against Miss R. and all who should aid in the jiublica- 
tion of her book, and anticipates from her friends of the Ursulines 
the most formidable attacks upon the veracity. Was not " con- 
science father to that thought r" The suggestion that the publica- 
tion was opposed by the Ursulines or their friends, is entirely a fic- 
tion. It was clearly for their interest that her stories should be ex- 
hibited in print, in a tangible form, so that they might be distinctly 
known, and refuted if false. It was vastly more injurious to have 
them circulated privately, so that the poison might gradually diffuse 
itself, without the possibility of remedy, than by publication to bring 
them directly to a trial of their truth. Had all Miss R's stories been 
printed within the first year of their birth, the Convent would pro- 
bably have been standing at this day. She had not discernment 
enough to understand this, but doubtless her advisers had, and there- 
fore resisted the publication, which her own wishes and her own 
vanity, would have long ago accomplished. The fact is, the narrative 
would not have been worth the publication, but for the destruction 
of the Convent, and the public excitement thereby created. It was 
the circulation of her stories in mamiscri[)t and in conversation, that 
was to destroy the Convent ; and the destruction of the Convent was 
to secure a "sale for her book! As a manuscript it aided in the 
work of iniquity ; as a book it secured "the wages of iniquity." 

In pages 41 — 42, the publishing elders undertake to show that 
the institution at Mt. Benedict, was an attcm|)t to establish a Pro- 
testant school, on a plan of secrecy; that it was not accessible at "pro- 
per times, by the parents and friends of the inmates," and that 
the Boston Committee, in this respect, were mistaken : — that Pro- 
testant parents " were not permitted to enter any other room in that 



Vlll 

spacious establishment, than the common parlor ; and that even the 
physician, as they understand, (from JMiss R. no doubt,) never saw 
any rehgeuse, to prescribe for them in their private apartments." It 
vras reasonable to expect an attack upon the Ursulines as a secret 
society, when we have been told tliat the editor of the Advocate is 
one of the Publishing Coirimittee. The rules of the Convent, the 
testimonj of many individuals, and particularly of Dr. Thompson, 
physician to the Community, were a perfect justification of the Bos- 
^n Report, and establish, beyond doubt, its correctness in this par- 
ticular. Because Messrs. Fay and Thaxter had testified that they 
had never gone beyond the parlor, but in one instance, and had nev- 
er sought to do so, they state as a necessary conclusion, that they 
were never permitted. They not only mistate the facts but make 
inferences not warranted even by the facts as assumed by themselves. 
§uch is their accuracy in matters of fact and logic. The rules of the 
Community, and the statements of Dr. Thompson and others, prove, 
that there was no greater restraint upon visitors, than was consistent 
with the duties and occupations of the inmates and the decencies of 
a well-regulated family.* 

The sage pubUshers, (page 28) ask, with a triumphant sneer at the 
Boston Committee and Judge F., as if the question were unanswer- 
able, how a young girl, in the humble walks of life, could have been 
the instrument of getting up a mob to destroy the Ursuline Convent' 
by violence ! If they had any recollection of the history of mankind, 
they would see that nothing is more easy. Do they not remember 
the popish, plot, in English history ? That only about 150 years ago 
(1678) Titus Oates, a man of infamous character, and ordinary tal- 
ents, by the mere force of impudent falsehood, and lying invention, 
threw all England into a state of such dreadful alarm, that for a long 
time, the whole population of London thanked God, as soon as they 
opened their eyes in the morning, that the^' had not been murdered 
or burnt up by the Catholics, during the night ? Some of the best 
blood of England was shed by means of this wretch's perjuries, 
aided by a few others, acting perhaps as a Committee of Publica- 
tion, and vouchers for his veracity. The Government were imposed 
upon, and Parliament gravely resolved, that the whole kingdom was 
in imminent danger from a hellish popish plot; and the House of 
Commons actually expelled a member for venturing to doubt its real- 
ity. Innocent men were capitally convicted, by juries, against the 
strongest circumstantial and positive evidence, and the death, im- 
prisonment or exile, of many excellent, pious,, and distinguished 



1 Sec I>r. Thompson'* affidavit, and letters of parents, in tlie Appendix. 



IX 

persons, were tlie awful c<)iuie(iiieiices of the lies cif one ^vortlllo4^ 
iiidividuul. Tlie eyesoftlie puUlic were not opeiiod for two years 
to the truth of the case, nor until the wretcli was convicted of |ter- 
jury. Even then, such hold hud error got on the [jopular mind, and 
so fortified hy its own ingenuity in finding other circumstances to 
support it, that probably a greater p:irt of the whole people of Eng- 
land died in the belief of the plot. It is now a matter of history, that 
this fatnous plot, which, for a time destroyed the happiness of mil- 
lions, had no foundation whatever, but in the impudent invention of 
an abandoned individual. It is also worthy of remark, that this 
wretch was first of the Episcopal Church, afterwards a Catholic, and 
then was reconverted to his first faith.* 

It would be useful to those readers, who do not recollect it, to 
read the account of this plot in Hume, Lingard, or some other his- 
torian. It is a valuable lesson on the subject of popular delusions, 
particularly where religion is concerned, and it may assist us iii 
forming just opinions of passing events. Now why should not a 
young woman of great apparent sincerity and religious zeal, if she 
were utterly destitute of a regard to truth, or possessed a mind of 
such singular construction as to change the truth into " all mon- 
strous shapes" of falsehood, be able to produce the effects which 
liave been ascribed to her.' Her stories are related, for the most 
part, to persons who are entirely unacquainted with the subjects of 
them; they come from a person who has had sufficient opportuni- 
ties to know the truth. To the superficial reader, they may appear 
to have an air of truth. Mankind naturally speak the truth, and un- 
less guarded by a want of confidence in the speaker — by our own 
superior knowledge, or by the incredibility of the tale, we naturally 
yield assent. 

Now were the accounts of the Ursuline Community, as found in 
Miss R's book true, it is not surprising that it should become odious 
in popular opinion. If her friends tell the truth, her narrative is fully 
believed by the writer and his colleagues ; and that in comfequence 
thereof, the Convent is tothem an object of hatred and disgust, 
and although they might not be the persons to put the torch to the 
building, they would be ready to thank God that in his Providence 
it was destroyed. A hutnlred cases of popular delusion might be 
cited to shew, that there is nothing at all im|>robable or incredi- 
ble, in the supposition of her instriimentality in an event, which 
has involved so many individuals in distress and inflicted upon us 



1 To make the parallel complete, it is only necesisary for Mis* R., flndinetiow readily 
linr present dixdosiires are believed, to come out occasionally with a new set, giving eofli 
series a deeper dye. 



a national disgrace. Joanna Southcote, vvitliin a few years past, in 
enlightened England, although "old, illiterate and vulgar," suc- 
ceeded in imposing upon a vast nun>l)er of people, and some of them 
well educated, the most ridiculous notions as gospel truth. » 

The publishers might at least have remembered Matthias, the 
New York Prophet, a tale of the last week's newspaper. Nobody 
ought to know better than the publishers, who are said to be many 
of them Editors of newspapers, that lies are often even more plaus- 
ible Ihan truth, for this simple reason, that lies may be adapted to the 
prejudices and cravings of the popular mind, whereas truth is un- 
bending and is very apt to be unpalatable. They were, therefore, 
the very persons to understand the value of Miss R's book, and the 
very last that should stand gentlemen ushers to its introduction into 
the world. 

The writers of the introduction assume as true, whatever Miss 
R. states to them, relative to her design in going to the Convent and 
leaving it, and as to what took place while she was there and since 
she left it. On these assumptions they argue, and if untrue, as we 
trust to prove them, the conclusions are necessarily fallacious. It 
is the work of a lawyer, who makes his evidence to suit his argu- 
ment, and takes care to overlook every thing on the other side. 
They are evidently actuated by strong sympathy for the incendia- 
ries ; and although in terms they deprecate the destruction of the 
Convent by a mob, they mean to satisfy the individuals who com- 
posed it, that they have done a work not "meet for repentance." 
The writers strive only to justify the end, well knowing that the end 
with the mob would justify the means. 

To go over the matters of fact contained in the introduction, with 
the arguments founded on them, and point out their inaccuracies fur- 
ther than we have done, would be tedious; and as we shall present 
a very different view of the case, both as to fact and conclusions, — 
if we succeed, the fallacies of the introduction will be sufficiently 
exposed without further comment. The chief design of it is declar- 
ed to be, the vindication of Miss R. from the aspersions cast on her, 
by the Report of the Boston Committee and others, who have affirm- 
ed or intimated, that her falsehoods were instrumental in the des- 
truction of the Convent. If it be proved to a reasonable degree of 
certainty, that the stories originating with her were unfounded, and 
at the same time calculated to make the people in the vicinity be- 
lieve that the Convent was a wicked and corrupt place, and that with- 
out this belief, founded upon these stories, there was no other ade- 
quate cause for the popular rage which destroyed it, we thiidt that no 
one will pretend that she has been treated with unnecessary severity. 

1 Espriella'a Letters — by Southey. 



XI 

We liave, then, two principal subjects of inquiry tiiat present 
themselves for consideration :^r5/, in relation to Miss Reed's con- 
duct after leaving tlie Convent; and second, as to the falscliood or 
trutli of tlie stones then reported by her, and now in a modified 
form sanctioned by an avowed j)ublication. 

On the 18tii day of January, (not February,) 1S32, after dinner^ 
Miss Reed left the Convent, without the kuowledge of the Superior, 
or any of the Community, and went to INIr. K's who keeps the toll- 
house on the 3Ic(lford turnjiike, and within a few rods of the Convent 
grounds, on the eastern side, wjiere there is only a common rail 
fence to be passed to reach tlie road. This departure is carefully 
represented as an escape in all her accounts written or unwritten, and 
in the advertisements of her book. An escape implies self-liberation 
from restraint, or danger, as from a prison or from some impending 
evil ; her first attack upon the Convent therefore is that which is im- 
plied in her manner of leaving it, and the term used to describe it. 
Her going to Mr. K's in the manner she herself describes, must natu- 
rally have excited in his family the worst surmises. Such, we arc cre- 
dibly informed, was the fact, and his location and employment were 
well calculated to diffuse in Charlestown and Medford, where Miss 
Reed's father had lived and where she was known, any scandal 
against the Ursulines to which the j)retended escape had given rise. 
She must have been there sev^eral hours. Her extraordinary con- 
duct, her dark insinuations against the Convent, as tl'C reason of 
her quitting it, were so disgusting to Mrs. G. who ca»ne over to Mr. 
K's in the evening, with her brother, in consequentje of the message 
sent by Miss R., that she actually left her at K's, and set out on her 
return home ; but in consequence of l.er brot.'ier's suggestion she 
went back and took her home with her. She remained with Mrs. 
G. about five weeks, during which time, site told a great many of 
the stories contained in her book, but upon a certain occasion 
disavowed them all. Mrs. G. who had been strongly interested 
for her before she went into the Convent, and had made very 
great exertions to serve her, according to her means, became satis- 
fied of her falsehood and duplicity and got rid of her as best 
she could. She then went to Mrs. Paine's for a short time, and 
from there to pay a farewell visit to her relations, previous to her 
removal as she said, to some nunnery at the South ; all this time 
she continued a Catholic and prosecuted her purpose of becoming a 
sister of Charity with Mary Francis, (Miss Kennedy.) During her 
residence with Mrs. G. and down to tiie llth of August, 1834, wher- 
ever she was, she constantly expresssed her fears of the Catholics, 
lost they should catch her and kill her. While at her brother's at 
East Cambridge, it was reported among the neighbours, that she 



Xll 

was afraid to sleep in a room alone, on this accoant. When with 
the Catholics however, she pretended to be afraid of her own rela- 
tions, and when she had returned to them, pretended to be in fear 
of the GathoUcs. 

When at East Cambridge about two months after leaving the Con- 
vent, she sent a note to Miss D. of Cambridge, pressing her to get 
away from the Convent, a Miss Shea,i a lay sister and domestic in 
that establishment, who had formerly been a faithful and valued do- 
mestic in Miss D's famil\'. Miss R. represented to Miss D. that this 
woman was very unhappy there, and wantt^d to get away, but could 
not; and that the interference of Miss D. was necessary to her res- 
cue. Miss D. as a member of a charitable society for the relief of 
sick poor, had been at the house of Miss R's father during her 
mother's last illness, and had seen her there and at meeting in Cam- 
bridge. From some prejudice or other cause, Miss D. paid no regard 
to the note, a second came very pressing to the same purpose, and 
equally disregarded. Then a message was sent, requesting Miss D. 
to call down to her brother's at East Cambridge to see her on the 
subject, as Miss R. was afraid to go to Miss D's, for fear of the Catho- 
lics. Miss D. did not happen to believe these stories, but replied that 
if Miss R. wished to see her, she must come to her. Finding all oth- 
er plans had failed. Miss R. went to Miss D. at Cambridge, notwith- 
standing \\er fear of the Catholics, and told her stories ; Miss D. 
was still inciodulous as to Miss Shea's being restrained against her 
will, and dechaed taking any step in the matter. The female who 
had been the object of Miss R's solicitude, shortly after left the Con- 
vent, came to Miss D's, and entirely contradicted the representations, 
made about herself by Miss R. By this proceeding, we venture to 
say that any impartial reader will agree, that Miss R. in one instance 
has been an active instrument in slandering the Convent. 

Her conversations about the Convent were full of insinuations, 
that she could tell more than she did. Dr. Thompson tells an 
amusing instance of that kind, in speaking of Mrs. Mary Magdalene, 
who died, during the " six mon'hs."^ " Oh ! Doctor," said she " no 
tongue can tell, what that poor creature suffered ;" but on being^ 
pressed to be more particular, she did not dare to trust herself be- 
yond that significant exclamation ! 

It was very evident from the examination of the Convent by Mr. 
Cutter, and subsequently by the Selectmen of Charlestown, that 
their minds were strongly impressed with the idea of foul practices 
there. They could take the words of the Superior and other ladies 



1 See Misa R's book, page 17;t. 

i See Appendix. Di. T's affidavit. 



Xlll 

fur notliiiiir ; tliey must see Mrs. Mary John ; nnd when tlie Select- 
men had seen nnd questioned her alone, and were satisfied as it re- 
spected her, they still thoiisht it neressury to go over every part of 
the premises to look for something more. They even oxamined the 
tomb. It was understood that they were looking for a person, sup- 
posed to be murdered. It could not be Mrs. IMary John, who was 
with them alive. Was it not " Mary Francis ?" Will Miss R. say 
that she liad not before this suggested to any person, that she, 
" Miss Mary F." was put out of the way, for having influenced her 
to leave the Convent. Again, it was believed by many people, — 
notwithstanding iNIr. Cutter who knew Mary John perfectly well, had 
seen her alone and also in company with the Selectmen, and had so 
stated pid)licly and privately, — that he had not seen her. He says 
that lie was told by several persons, that they did not believe he had 
seen her, although he might think he liad, but that he had been im- 
posed upon by a fictitious personage, and that the real Mary 
John was mysteriously disposed of, so strong was the delusion ! 
Whence came the idea .'' We answer, from Miss R. For a con- 
firmation of this, we refer to a fact well known to the editor of 
the Advocate. Several weeks after Messrs. Cutter and the Select- 
men certified that they had seen Mrs. Mary John Iiappv and con- 
tented in the Convent, and after a hundred persons had seen and 
conversed with her. Miss R. aflJected to remain incredulous, and in- 
sisted that she had not been seen. She so far influenced the minds 
of others, that a committee of investigation was appointed, and 
evidence was received by them i:pon the subject, and Mr. 
Hallet, editor of the Advocate, was a member of that Commit- 
tee ; it was finally arranged by the Committee, in order to make 
certain of the correctness of their suspicions, that Miss Reed's 
sister, Mrs. Pond, accompanied by Capt. Davis, Dr. Ap[)Ieton, and 
Mr. Hallet, taking with them MissPenniman, a former pupil of the 
Convent, concealing the ol)ject of the visit to identify Mrs. Mary 
John, should go to the residence of the Ursulines in Boston, and see 
the lady with their own eyes. When they reported the result, and 
Miss Reed heard their descripticm of the person, she said, with a 
deep-drawn sigh, as if her mind was greatly relieved — "Thank 
God 'tis she" I Such was the farce she i)Iayed oflJ'on her friends 
on that occasion; and Mr. Hallet, in his next pa})er, announced the 
fact, (as if it had hitherto been a matter offjuostion in the Cotnmu- 
nity) that the real Mary John was alive. This fact proves, as wo 
think, the peculiar character of her mind — her power of in)[)osin'' 
upon others, or on herself, or both, in the face of the most satitifac- 
tory evidence. With this fact before him, what man can doubt as 
lo the sort of language she must have held previous to the 11th of 



XIV 

August? It will be recollected that she was at that time in Charles- 
town, at the Baptist seminary — near the very spot where the news- 
collector for the Mercantile Journal, picked up his paragraph about 
the mysterious lady, and where the inflammatory placards for the 
destruction of the Convent, were first posted. The simple affair of 
Mrs. Mary John leaving the Convent as she did, had nothing in it 
to have excited a remark, witliout some person or ])ersons had art- 
fully misrepresented it, or given it an extraordinary aspect, or pre- 
pared the public mind, by other stories, to put the worst construction 
upon it. She was evidently deranged. She uttered no complaint 
against her sisters, but spoke of them in the kindest terms. She 
went to the house of one of the most res[)ected families in West 
Cambridge, where she was visited by her brother and the Bishop. 
This lady then, had the protection of the Bishop, of her own brother, 
and of the family to which she was carried. Is'it possible to imag- 
ine a case, where there was less ground to find fault with the Ursu- 
lines, or to suspect them of any improper designs, or that Mrs. Mary 
John's life or libertjf were menaced? To Miss Reed's mind, it was 
a different affair. She could see nothing but dungeons or death, for 
poor Mrs. Mary John ; and it took many weeks and most extraor- 
dinary measures to remove her delusion. The visits of Mr. Cutter, 
the Selectmen and Miss Reed's friends, were the result of suspi- 
cions and suggestions of the most injurious nature ; and we know 
and have never heard, of but one person in tiie neighborhood, who 
could, from her supposed knowledge, have given authority to them : 
that person was Miss Reed. Mrs. Mary John's supposed con- 
cealment or death was thus added to the old stories of her own 
restraint in the Convent, — with the conspiracy for her abduction and 
exile in Canada, and the dark suggestions about Mary Francis's dis- 
appearance, to produce the conflagration at Mount Benedict. She 
was openly quoted as authority on the very night of that sad event- 
There were, no doubt, at all times with a portion of the communi- 
ty, some vague prejudices against nunneries ; prejudices, which were 
supposed to be the mere remnants of Protestant suj)erstition, in this 
country of toleration. Sectarian preaching and writing had contrib- 
uted something more than its mite, in extending and exciting thein 
into more active operation ; but the Convent would have passed un- 
scathed through all these trials, if the stories of foul and wicked 
practices therein, jjarticularly those affecting the lives and liberties 
of its inmates, had not been circulated and believed. It was this 
most foul and slanderous attack on the moral conduct of the mem- 
bers, which brought about its destruction. These stories were 
circulated by Rebecca T. Reed, by word and by writing, from the 
day she left the Convent to the publication of her book. She may 



XV 

ileny and prevaricate, and licr piiblisliers may echo it; but it is, anil 
lias been for a long time, matter of general notoriety. Tlie week 
utter the Convent was burned, iialf ti;e persons who spoke of the act 
as an horrible outrage, at the same time intimated the belief, that 
the Convent was a very wicked place. Upon asking the reasons of 
such belief, the answer invariably was, — ' Why, a young wnnian, 
wlio resided there, and ran away, tells very bad stuiics," &:.c. Many, 
jjrobably thousands, who had merely heard her name, had heard 
and believed the slanders which were attached to it.' We ven- 
ture to say, that the Boston Committee, in all their investigations 
and inquiries, never heard any other authority than this young wo- 
man for all the false charges current against the Community. The 
Ursulines had been in Boston many years before removing to Mount 
Benedict; and while there or in Charlestown, who ever heard any 
thing against their moral character until 1832. The opinion, there- 
fore, of the Boston Committee was well founded, or was in fact but 
the opinion of a large portion of the public. Nay, the warmest 
friends of Miss Reed, and the greatest enemies of Catholicity, hold 
the same opinion, and consider her instrumentality in that unholy 
work as her chief, if not only merit; and she herself would un- 
doubtedly have felt complimented by that suggestion in Judge F's 
letter, if it had not been coupled with a suggestion against the truth 
of her expected jjublicalion. 

W^e then arrive at the main question : Are her stories true ? And 
we aver, that all the stories told by her, injurious to the moral char- 
acter and conduct of the Ursulines, are wholly without foundation 
in fact. If this prove so, she is one of the greatest impostors of her 
day and generation. 

Now these stories depend for their truth — 1st, — upon her own 
personal veracity, or credibility, and that may be impeached in seve- 
ral ways, and one method of testing the truth of her statements, is 
to inquire into her general character and conduct. 

She is the daughter of a fanner, who has lived chiefly in Milk 
Row, in Charlestown, and who from the time of her birth, has been 
as poor a man as could be found in the vicinity. We do not mention 
his i)Overty as a disgrace, but as a fact, iiaviiig a necessary bearing 
on the credit of some of her representations. She proves by 
her narrative, that she was a disobetlicnt child ; and utterly dis- 
regardless of both the feelings, wishes and commands of her 
parents. (See pages 51-2 and 62, &c.) She will doubtless, at- 



1 I'roofs, in a durable form upon this point, will be collecled shortly, unit prusentcd to 
the public. 



XVI 

tempt to throw the blame on the Catholics, but her determination 
was made, as appears by her book, in her own mind, before she saw 
a CathoHc. 

Her book throughout shows her to be artful, suspicious and a 
double dealer. With her nothing is simple and direct. She could 
not get the name of Mary Francis, which was Kennedy, in all their 
communications, written and verbal, exce[n by pricking it out in 
the letters of a book, which two months after, Miss R. was obliged 
to steal and carry away, according to her own account, (p. 173,) in 
order to possess the name and address of Miss Kennedy. She 
also took a hood, which she says, she '« secreted with the book" 
and which Mrs. G. (not by her direction) carried back some time af- 
ter. Taking only this account of herself, one would not draw very 
favorable conclusions, as to her integrity or charactei*. But these 
are trifles with her. 

Feeling it necessary to fortify her reputation for truth, her Com- 
mittee have published three certificates in the introduction. The 
first by the Rev. Mr. Croswell, which although it may be literally 
true, we were rather surprised to see, because we think it is cal- 
culated to mislead the unwary, and misrepresent the true state of his 
mind. If a Catholic Priest had written such an one, it would 
most likely have been called Jesuitical. The material part is, 
" I repose great confidence in her sincerity and intention to re- 
late what she believes to be the truth.'''' lie does not say that 
he has confidence that what she relates is the truth ; nor, we 
venture to say, does he believe that the tales in her book are all 
true ; and, unless we are much misinformed, Mr. C. will not pledge 
his credit for their truth. We shall certainly leave him and the 
phrenological [>hilosophers to reconcile the idea of sincerity, with 
the relation of known falsehood as truth. Mr. Adams's certi- 
ficate requires no remark. It proves only that she had not behaved 
ill, to his knowledge. But these two certificates go to prove one 
thing against Miss R. — that the writers were not willing to sign the 
general certificate in page 41, which goes fully and clearly to her 
character for truth. That certificate was dated September 26th, 
and the other two in October after. It was then prepared, but 
these two gentlemen chose to make their certificates in their own 
way. We have nothing to remark as to the signers of the general 
certificate. They are unknown to us, and may all be credible peo- 
ple ; but it is well known how easy it is to obtain certificates of this 
kind, and it is rather moro surprising that she has so few, than that 
there are not more. The signers probably, had only a temporary 
and limited acquaintance with her, and very honestly believe all 
they have certified : but it is singular that she has only one name at 
Cragie's Point, where she has resided a considerable time since the 



xvu 

year 1831. Why lias slie not produced tliR oertificatos of licr 
friends in Milk Row and Cliarlostown ; Miss U. Mrs. G Mrs. 1*. 
her sponsor, Mrs. K. and Mrs. S. with the last of whom she lived 
as a domestic ? The triiih is, her general character, to say the least of 
it, is very ccpiivocal, and we venture farther to refer for it, to her 
publishers, Ifussell & Metcaif. SIjc was a domeatic in Mr. Russell's 
family not long before she became a Catholic, and he and Mrs. 11. 
must know somethin-j about her. It is said she left them much 
as she did tiie Convent, and came near involving Mr. R. in a per- 
sonal conflict, by her extraordinary sayings and doings on the oc- 
casion. Col. Metcaif also, who lives in Cambridge, luiows much of 
her character by heresay. We believe neither of these gentlemen 
would, for the profits they will make on her book, vouch for the 
truth of its contents, or say that they believe the statements of Miss 
Reed contained therein. 

But it is not necessary to pursue this topic further, llor conduct 
since she left her own family, has been of so unusual a cast, cs to 
indicate a very peculiar genius. .After living upon some neighbors 
for a short time, she ihew herself ujion the charity of a perfect 
stranger, Rlrs. Graham, a very respectable Scotch woman, who kept 
liouse for her brother and a Mr. Barr, both Scotchmen, who have, for 
several years past, resided near the blcachery in Milk Row. She 
represented herself as abandoned by her father and family, on ac- 
count of her desire to become a Catholic, which she was resolved 
to do, in obedience to the dying request of her mother. She said 
she had been to the Bishop, who had sent, or advised, her to apply 
to them to get instructed in the Catholic faith, &c. &c. Mrs. G. 
and her friends were rather surprised at this, as they were not Cath- 
olics, and did not even know the Bishop, but it being possible that 
there might be some mistake, the mistrust that her story excited, 
passed away. Mrs. G. however, at first wholly declined acceding 
to her request, as a thing incompatible with her ccmvenience and 
condition in life. They lived by their daily labor, as bleachers, and 
tlie request seemed equally unreasonable and extraordinary. She 
told Mss II. that they were not Catholics and could give her no aid 
in learning their doctrines. They were all three, Scotch Presbyte- 
rians at that time, and not Episcopalians. She, however, persever- 
ed and renewed her applications at short intervals, till, by her great 
apparent destitution and distress, by the most moving appeals to 
her feelings as a woman and a Christian, she succeeded in estab- 
lishing iierself in Mrs. G's. family. The latter became extremely 
Interested in her, from her religious enthusiasm, and desolate condi- 
tion, and after a few weeks, to promote her wishes and views to 
become a Catholic, procured a friend, Mrs. Iloyne, an Irish wonuin 
c 



XVlll 

near the Catholic Churchin Charlestown, to take her into her fami- 
ly, that she might more conveniently receive the instructions of the 
Rev. Mr. Byrne. Betwecnjliese two women, and another Irisii fam- 
ily, (Mr. Paine's,) she contiued to be aided and supported until she 
went into the Convent, and was, after leaving it, received by them 
again and maintained several weeks. Deserted as she was, or 
pretended to be, by her family, and full of religious zeal and piety, 
she interested the feeUngs of all of them to that degree as to support 
her for six or eight months free of compensation. Tliese peo{)le, who 
are of perfectly good character, can tell what return she has made 
them, and whether they now believe themselves imposed on by her 
or not I 

Her history presents another curious trait of her extraordinary 
character. She has been twice baptized, as appears by her own 
book; first in the Episcopal and then in the Catholic Church. In 
neither case, we understand, was any relative present to assist at 
the ceremony. Her male sponsors at the first, were an Englishman 
and a Scotchman, and at the last, an Irishman. We mean no disre- 
spect to those persons, who acted from benevolent and Christian 
motives, but to show what must have been the extraordinary state 
of the relation between her and her own family. Her first baptism 
probably took place at the age of 14 or 15, at the Episcopal Church 
in Cambridge, to which she and her parents did not belong. But 
her second baptism in the Catholic Church, as she states, took place 
because her first was declared by the Calholics invalid. Now it is 
well understood by the divines of the respective churches, that Cath- 
olics hold no such doctrine, and we affirm that the Rev. Mr. Byrne 
never asserted such an idea. We Are credibly informed by a wit- 
ness, who attended as her friend, that Miss R. in her Catholic zeal, 
affected to doubt the validity of her first baptism, and requested 
Mr. B. to do the work again. His statement, which will be found 
in the Appendix, will be presented to the public, among other docu- 
ments, in a more extended form. 

One of her sponsors in her first baptism, is still living, and can 
probably tell whether water was used at that time or not. We be- 
lieve that Rev. Mr. B, was imposed upon, and that the statement of 
Miss R. that water was not used at her first baptism, is untrue ; and 
that upon no other ground than that untruth, was it declared inval- 
id by Mr. B. It is easy to see from this and similar dealings, that 
the Catholics were deluded by her, and not she by the Catholics, as 
her book intimates. 

Let us next see how Miss R. stands affected by the denials and 
contradictions of those to whom her stories relate, or of others. Ma- 
ny of these facts stated by her, could be known only to the inmates 



XIX 

of the Convent at the time, or to the Bishop who is implicated, or to 
some of them. And who are tliey ? Tlic Bisliop is a well educat- 
ed geiitlemnn, of imimpcacliable reputation, ns far as we have ever 
heard u suggestion. Tiie members of the Ursidine Community are 
reIi;^ious persons, of mature age and unsuUied characters, (except so 
far as Miss R. lias slandered liiem) ; they are well educated, intelli- 
g^ent ladies, secluded from the world by their religious vows, having 
nothing to ask of it, but its good opinion, — rendering it their servi- 
ces, by the instruction of young females, pursuant to what they be- 
lieve to be a religious duty — and living under a constitution and 
rules, which as far as ])ossible tend to make them virtuous and ex- 
emplary. There are several of them. If they do not speak the 
the truth, their terpitude is known to each other ; and each must be 
abased not only in her own eyes, but in the eyes of the others. Here 
is a security for truth which Miss Reed has not. Few persons, 
even of those who might be ready to deny the truth, or utter a false- 
Jiood, if known only to their own hearts, would be so depraved as 
to consent to a partnership in guilt. On the other hand, how stands 
Miss R? A young woman brought up in a very loose manner, who 
who has shone none of the virtues of filial obedience, love of honest 
emj)loyment ; or indeed, any good propensity, unless religious fa- 
naticism be such ; — one who had abandoned her friends, or been 
abandoned by them at the age of 17 or 18, and whose general char- 
acter is of a very " questionable shape." This person claims to have 
her word outweigh the word of the several persons above described. 
It is only to present the question in this simple form, to any sensible 
mind, to settle such a preposterous claiin forever. 

Those who patronize the school, were interested to satisfy them- 
selves of its character, and that of its teacJiers; and although they 
might not know evervthing respecting the discipline of the relig- 
ious part of the establishment, they would, from what they did 
know, be able to determine with great certainty the truth or impos- 
sibility of many of these strange tales. And we venture to say, 
that none of the parents or pupils, who may read Miss R.'s book, 
will give it the slightest credit. Their confidence has never been 
affected in the least degree ; and the same children who were in the 
school at the destruction of the Convent, returned to it on its re-es- 
tablishment, as far as their accomodations would permit. Tiiese 
facts speaks volumes, and will satisfy any rational mind, that 3Iiss 
R. is unworthy of credit. 

Then is her testimony corroborate*! by others ? As far as we 
have known or believe, by no individual or circumstance ! She 
speaks of a great many events, tiansactions and conversations in 
and out of the Convent, which took jdace in the presence of others, 



XX 

and in which they were more or less concerned. Many of tbesc 
events, &c. had no relation to the Convent, and were extremely un- 
important; and yet, incredible as it may seem, we affirm that almost 
without exception, tliey will be discredited by the persons referred 
to, and in all material respects, will be pronounced shere fabrica- 
tions, or misrepresentations, or mistakes. We are assured by a gen- 
tleman, in whom we have entire confidence, and who has taken 
some pains to examine into this matter, that such is the fact with 
respect to Mrs. G., Mrs. H., and Mrs. P., whom she calls her friends, 
and with whom she resided immediately before she entered the 
Convent, and after she left it. Also with respect to Rev. Mr. Byrne, 
Miss M. \l. the domestic of II. J. K., and to wliat took place in the 
school, as mentioned in the first and second pages of her narrative. 
We will double the profits of her book to her, if she will prove by 
the school mistress and children, the circumstances she tliere states. 
The time when the Nuns took possession of Mt. Benedict is well 
known, and it is easily ascertained who kept the school at that time, 
and we defy herself, and her four and twenty elders, (for it may 
be presumed she had as many as Joanna Southcote,) to establish 
the truth of her two first pages. The Ursulines states, that they 
went from Boston to the new habitation, at 5 o'clock in the morning, 
to avoid public notice. This must have been before school hours. 

Will Sarah Shea, or Mary Francis confirm the various statements 
connected with them ? According to her account, they could not 
entertain any friendship towards the Superior, and must be very 
ready to testify for Miss R. Will Mr. B. who introduced her to the 
Bishop, confirm her story of the catechism, (page 59,) or the very ex- 
traordinary account, (page 57) of his visit to her, to give her some 
scripture proofs of the infallibility of Romish Church, requesting 
when she had done that she would secrete the paper on which the 
texts were written ? Why secrete a paper on which texts of scrip- 
ture were written, andwhich, if found by a christain of any denomi- 
nation, could have excited neither surprise nor suspicion ? Surely 
he or she must have the organ of secretiveness wonderfully devel- 
oped! Then there is the O'Flaherty miracle ! Will Mrs. G. and 
the person restored to sight, confirm that portion of her book? (See 
page 58.) Did any of Mr. Kidder's family see the Convent men 
searching the canal with long poles, (the 18th of January, be it re- 
membered,) and tracking her with dogs ? Will Mrs. G. confirm the 
statement about he wounds and frozen the feet ? How came those 
feet frozen, and whence those wounds? We venture to afiirm, that 
j'n not one circumstance in six, mentioned by her in the narrative 
will she be confirmed by those who were tvitnesses. On the other 
hand, we are credibly informed that what took place in the knowl- 



XXI 

edge of her friends, Mrs. G. and others, her veracity is directly de- 
nied, as to the most inatoriul allegations. Thisat least must produce 
a (louht on the minds of the most prejudiced men, and put iheyouug 
woman and her endorsers to further proof 

But there is discrediting proof from another source, tliat we think 
will be most satisfactory and conclusive to any fair mind, even 
against preconceived opinions. That is the testimony of Miss Caro- 
line Alden, of Belfast, inserted in the Appendix. She is, as we un- 
derstand, a well educated lady, who has now, or liad, charge of 
a female seminary in that town. Her character is well known tliere 
and to many persons in this vicinity, and it is of the first class. A 
letter written to her by Judge Fay, in answer to his inquiries into 
the character of the UrsuHne Community, (not- Miss R's.) was pub- 
lished in the Daily Advertiser soon after the Convent was destroyed 
and may be found in the Aj)pendi.\, with a second letter on the same 
subject, from her, with one from her brother, Dr. Alden, postmaster 
of B. This lady was a member of the Ursuline Community four 
years. She went with a view, probably, to continue for life, but afler 
having taken the white veil, (according to Miss R. " white vows,") 
and remained two years, she concluded to return to Jier family. 
She nevertheless continued in the Convent two years longer, from 
attachment to the Superior and the sisterhood. What a difl'crent 
person she must have been from Miss Reed ? 

These letters prove conclusively, that the suggestions of restraint 
upon personal liberty in the Convent; the charges of ill-treatment 
of the sick ; kissing the Bishop's footstejjs ; kneeling, walking on the 
knees, &c. &c. are mere creations of the brain. The evidence 
which this letter furnishes, proves, also, that the members of the 
Community were always at liberty to leave the Convent when tbey 
pleased. The Constitution of the Society also provides in the clear- 
est manner for the freedom of all its iimiates, and we defy any per- 
son to produce any evidence, except that of ftliss R., that any one 
eversuflered the slightest possible control over their personal liber- 
ty ! It is presumed that even her Committee will admit, that Miss 
Aldcn's testimony is directly in contradiction of Miss R. in many 
material particulars, relative to the manners, discipline and charac- 
ter of the Ursulines, and if true, entirely destroys her credit, not only 
in those i)articulars, but in all others. It is a well established rule of 
law and common sense, that if a witness be convicted of a wilful 
falsehood in one fact, he is not worthy of belief in any other ; at any 
rate that his declaration is not to be received against that of a persoa 
who stimds unimpcarhed. And we call on every honest mind, to 
throw down her book as a cabinet of falsehoods, if she be proved 
guilty of a single wilfully false statement. She has groscly accused 



xxu 

t^ersons of fair and unblemished fame, and if her own character stood 
ever so high, one detected false charge, must leaven the whole lump. 
How then does her jiersonal character compare with Miss A's. for 
unquestioned veracity, for age, education and intelligence ? It will be 
observed that Miss A's statement is verified by acts, which speaks 
louder than words. Her voluntary stay of four years in all, and two 
after she had abandoned the idea of taking the black veil, through 
mere attachment to the Superior and Nuns; her high recommenda- 
tion of the Convent as a school, to her friends at all times; the lan- 
guage in which she has constantly spoken of its members to her 
brother and other Protestant friends, can leave no doubt that her 
opinions and belief are not made up for the occasion. Her situation 
is such as to place her testimony above suspicion. She is entirely 
disconnected and independent of the Convent and can have no mo- 
tive but truth and justice in what she states. Can there be the least 
question as to the comparative value of her evidence and that of 
Miss Reed ? We think not. 

Miss Alden's Convent name was Mary Angela, and is alluded to 
in Miss R's. book, page 111, were she either tells a lie of Mary 
Francis, or makes Mrs, M. F. tell a lie of Miss Alden, as to the es- 
cape of the latter. The latter was in the Convent at the same time 
with Mary Francis, but knew nothing of her being unhappy there . 
We desii'e to observe, once for all, that we believe M. F. to be 
grievously slandered in Miss R's. book ; and that all that she makes 
that lady say against the Superior and the rest of the Conununity, 
the suggestions about forgeries and suppressions of letters, her in- 
trigues with Miss R., and indeed, every thing inconsistent with a 
good understanding and harmony between her and the rest of the 
Community, is the invention of Miss Kced.^ We have seen a letter 
of condolence from that lady to the Superior, and one to another 
sister, since the Convent was burnt, in which she uses most friendly 
and respectful language, and such only as could be expected in a 
letter between persons entertaining a mutual regard. Her pres- 
ent Convent name is Mary Maulina. her real name is Ann Janet 
Kennedy. 

We now come to consider the extreme improbability and absurdi- 
ty of these tales. These traits are so numerous to our ap])rehen- 
sion, that it would be both laborious and unnecessary to do more 
than select a few. 

She says (page 16.5) that "she was in the habit of talking in her 
sleep, and had often awoke and found tiie Religieuse kneeling 



1 Her testimony in full, will be laid before the public as soon as practicable. 



XXI 11 

around lier coucli and was told they were prayin-f for lier. Fear- 
ing lest slie slioiild let fall words wliioli nii^lu betray licr, she tied 
a liantikerciiief round her fiiee to avoid doteition." SiiMjtle, artless 
creature! Does not tiiis show that she was det*^rinincd that the in- 
mates of the Convent should never hear the truth from her even in 
lier sleep ? Did lier Committee swallow all this without any wry 
faces? What advantaire were ihc sisters to derive from hearing a 
simple and niiless girl talk in licr sleep, that could indcnmify tliem 
for their broken rest, and this " often ,•" or what tiie purpose of their 
prayers on the occasion ? Another story «)f this class, is that (page 
127) about the request of the Bishop to a dying Nun, that she would 
"implore the Almighty to send down from Heaven a bushel of gold 
for building a college on Bunker's Hill, &c. He said he had bought 
the land, &c., and that the sisters who had died had promised to 
present his request, but had not fullilled their obligations:" and, 
says he, "you must shake hands in heaven with all the sisters who 
have gone, and ask tiiem why they have not fultilled their promise, 
for I have waited long enough." To an enlightened mind, we 
should be willing to put the whole case of her credibility on this 
simple story. That a well educated, intelligent dignitary of the 
Church could be guilty of such impious folly, would not be be- 
lieved by any rational man, upon the testimony of any ordinary wit- 
ness, even if it were uncontradicted by the Bisliop himself, and all 
other persons present on the melancholy occasion. We do not 
hesitate to pronounce it a wilful slander ! It is not only a pine in- 
vention, but a weak and silly one ! There is not a clergymen of 
any church in this vicinity, who would not feel humiliation and 
shame at being obliged to deny the truth of so absurd and ridiculous 
a charge. Is there an Editor among her Committee who can screw 
his credulity up to the sticking place for that tastefully conceived 
tale? 

Then comes the brutal treatment of Mrs. IMary Magdalene, in 
which the Superior, Bishop and other sisters are exhibited as guilty 
of a cruelty and want of feeling towards a sick and dying female 
amounting to brutality, (pages 91, 104, 125-G-7-8-9 and 132.) No 
person, man or woman, who has lived among decent peojde, we 
should presume, could be made to believe these circumstances, if 
they had been charged upon the very drogs of society ! Females of 
all classes naturally kin<l, arc particularly so in case of sickness ; 
and this case sup|)oses that in a comnnmity of eight or ten females 
well educated and of accomplished manncrs,under all the influences 
of religious duty and a regard to their character, separated from the 
world by voluntary seclusion, and associated upon principles of 
mutual dependence and common lot, a sick sister could be treated 



XXIV 

With cruelty ! Does the religion of the cross so brutify the gentle 
nature of woman ? And can the mind of any member of the Com- 
mittee be so stupified by its influence, as to stand sponsor for such an 
infamous hbel ? Heaven forbid ! — This is not alL That dying Nun 
had two own sisters in tlie Convent at the same time, who were 
novices. Would they have continued there, and taken the black 
veil afterwards, if there had been a particle of truth in that portion 
of the " narrative ?" Add to all this the testimony of Miss Alden and 
Dr. Thompson and tlie solemn declaration of these own sisters of 
Mary Magdalene, made in writing and exhibited to the Boston In- 
vestigating Committee in order to contradict the lying report ! ! 

The only other story of the incredible class, which we shall no- 
tice, is that which she says induced her to escape from the Con- 
vent, — the conspiracy between the Bishop and the Superior to send 
her to Canada against her will. How the Editor of the Advocate 
must have felt when he read of this narrowly escaped abduction ! 
Miss R. overhears a conversation between the Bishop and Superior, 
To do this she does not hesitate to exhibit herself as a secret listen- 
er, who had neglected a duty and resorted to a lie and an artifice to 
prevent detection. The story is varied in her book, from what it was 
in her original manuscript, if some of her friends give a correct ac- 
count of it ; but only in the trifling circumstance that instead of hear- 
ing through an open door, she put her ear to the keyhole. Probably 
the publishers did not like the appearance of the latter and she sub- 
stituted the open door. The emendation is decidedly bad, as less 
probable ; for the door is opened, as the story stands, for no apparent 
reason, but for her convenience in hearing a wicked conspiracy 
against herself The Bishop and Superior were in an adjoining 
room, contriving a plot of the most atrocious kind, for the accom- 
plishment of which it was important to exercise the greatest caution 
and secrecy, both to effect its execution and to secure themselves 
against detection. The doors were shut, but they did just what 
they ought not to have done, they opened the door into the room 
where the listener was, not because they had occasion to go into it, 
but just to accommodate the story and betray themselves. And 
what was the great reason for the proposed abduction, that if ef- 
fected and discovered, must have ruined the Bishop and the Ursu- 
lint Community, in character and estate ? Simply because " it 
would not do, to have such reports go abroad as these persons (viz : 
Miss R. and Mary Francis) would say !" Mary Francis had already 
gone, and Miss R's abduction would only half prevent the mischief. 
One woman was already abroad, and one woman is as good as a 
hundred, as Miss R. has abundantly proved by her own conduct, to 
get Btories in motion. But what reports were carried ? What were to 



XXV 

to be feared ? Had Mary Francis or Miss R. given any reason to sup- 
pose they had a desij^n, or wish to injure the Convent. No evidence 
as far as we can perceive, existed at that time, to excite any such 
expectation, and it was very extraordinary that one of the most 
desperate and wicked designs that ever existed, should have been 
entertained without the slightest apparent reason ! 

Even if there had been a declared purpose, on the part of Miss R. 
and M. Francis to carry about any reports whatever injurious to the 
Community, it would have shewn the last degree of folly to expos© 
it to almost certain ruin in order to avoid an uncertain and inferior 
danger. From these considerations, such a project would be clearly 
improbable and absurd ; but when the difficulty, if not impossibility, 
of carrying such a project into effect is considered, it becomes ridic- 
ulous. She says, "the Bishop said it would take two or three days 
for a carriage to cross the line." Now the stage takes four days, 
as the Bishop must have known, if he had known anything upon the 
subject ; and she clearly could not be sent by the stage. She would 
certainly cry out, at some of the stopping places. No — a close 
carriage would be necessary ; the driver must be in the secret ; she 
must be gagged, and not suffered to be seen, or to leave the coach 
during the whole way. Who was to take charge of her ? If not the 
Bishop, some other strong man must be let into the secret, &:c. &c. 
These are only a part of the difficulties. Some place mast be prepared 
in Canada for her reception and detention, and certain people there 
must enter into the wicked views of the Bishop, to accomplish 
the object; — then the danger of escaping and coming back upon 
them, with all tlie awful consequences to their persons and property. 
Now, are the publishing friends entitled to belief, when they say they 
give full faith and credit to such stories as these ? If Miss R. is sin- 
cere in the belief of this story, she is a fool, or a mad creature ; if she 
is not, she is an impostor! Every part of the tale affords additional 
evidence of the same position. Although the Bishop had given the 
Superior instructions how to entice her into the carriage, yet th*^ 
whole project failed, after all the mighty preparations, and after the 
carriage was at the door, 6y her simply saying, she tvould not go to see 
her friends at that time. Indeed, the whole account (pp. 166, 167) 
affords an amusing specimen of her talent at story-telling, and of 
her address in eluding danger! This story, attentively consid- 
ered, exhibits, we suspect, the true index to her character: that she 
is of a nervous or hysterical constitution, and imagines a thousand 
things, which she mistakes for realities. It seems to us almost an 
insult to the understanding of readers to offer further evidence 
against the credibility of Miss R. and every thing her book contains. 
But as there are some people whose prsjudices so far deprive them of 
D 



XXVI 

reason as not to perceive that one, or two, or even half a dozen lies 
ought to condemn all the rest, we shall proceed a little further ; for 
even while we are writing, proofs accumulate to our hand. 

She told the Lady Superior, (p. 55) that she did not consider her 
"education complete," leaving the reader to infer, from what was 
said, that she had a common school education, at least — or as much 
as girls of her age generally possessed, — how is the fact? 

It will be seen on page 94 of her book, that she speaks of a piece 
oi poetry, composed by her at Mount Benedict, and presented to the 
Superior, who says, in page 23 of her Answer, that they were writ- 
ten for her by Mrs. Mary Austin, and that Miss Reed could not pen 
two lines of prose or poetry correctly. As proof of this, — after Miss 
Reed left the Convent, and while at Mrs. Graham's she told her that 
she composed a piece of poetry, as mentioned in her book, and sat 
down and wrote it out from memory, and presented it to Mrs. Gra- 
ham. The original is in the possession of Dr. Byrne, and will be duly 
authenticated. If the lines are original, they show her want of com- 
mon sense as well as education ; if they purport to be a copy of the 
accomplished ftlrs. Mary Austin's verses, they prove her inaccuracy 
as well as her ignorance of the most common acquirements in New- 
England — spelling and grammar. We present them, word for word, 
as copied from the original in her hand-writing. 

To Our reverrent Mother. 

My dear ma mare j'ou shall allways find, 
In me a child affectionate and kind. 
So with cheerful heart, I come to say, 
That I wish you a very happy day. 

And so i do to all the rest, 
, I must not love one sister best. 

They are all as one to me. 
And I wish I could with them allwayg be. 

Therefore I have one requst to make, 
fearing lest any rash step I take, 
that I may In your prayers shaire 
The holey hahbit for to wear. 

Let us now look at the inconsistencies contained in the book. 

She took the vows of a novice, as she pretends, after she must 
have been three months in the Convent, and after she became dis- 
satisfied with the Superior and every thing there, and had actually 
engaged with Mary Francis to get away. Now had this been true, 
(as it was not) what gross inconsistency and hypociisy, and how en- 
tirely she disregarded her obligation ! One would think that such 
open and artless accounts of her own inconsistency and baseness, 
would shake the confidence of her friends either in the soundness 
of her intellect or that of her heart. 



XXVll 

Belt there is one fact of startling import, the proof of whirh is to 
be found in lier book, and in the letters which sliehas in heri)0sse9- 
sion from Miss Keiinndy, as well as from the statements of her friends 
Mrs. G. Mrs. P. and Mr. Byrne ; and that is, that for several weeks 
after leaving the Convent, Miss Keed continued a Caiholic, and en- 
deavored to procure admission into another Convent at Alexandria, or 
in that neighborhood. At page 177, she says she wrote to Miss Ken- 
nedy, " to inform her of her aJJIictions and of her reluctance to return 
to the bustle of the world ;" and "proposed some questions and re- 
quested her advice," and that "she could not but think the Bishop 
and Superior very wicked." Then follows a specimen of the art- 
ful and scheming habit of her mind, and the following expression, 
insinuating what she had frequently done, in her conversations, that 
Mary Francis was not living, but hud been marie way with by the 
Superior. "I resolved to ascertain if Mary Francis was livii:g and 
liappy." To this and other letters written by her to that larly, she re- 
ceived three in answer. Those letters have been seen by Mrs. G, Mr. 
Byrne and other Catliolics, and probably by Mr, Croswoll, which will 
prove the facts above stated.' They will prove also, if she dare pro- 
duce them, that Miss Kennedy was not the person she is represented 
in Miss Il's. book. Tiiese letters were written by Miss R. as a Catho- 
lic, she of course not informing M. F. of any change in her religion, 
and in them she advises her to go to her Confessor and take bis 
counsel. She did so, and when he advised iier to seek her living by 
lionest industry, she tinned her back on the Catholics. Now the 
fact that she wanted to go into another Convent, is wholly incon- 
sistent with the idea, that her book and her conversations are in- 
tended to inculcate, that Convents were corrupt, superstitious and 
wicked places, and that the errors of Romanism were such as to 
make it her duty to write her experiences, aa a warning against 
them. Was her conduct consistent with her language, and if not, 
what becomes of her credibility ? 

Her statements in mutters that have liltic or nothing to do with 



1 This is tlie lady of wliom she has insinuated to many persons, licth (^atholic and 
Protestant, had l«;en liiiried in a dungeon orniurderod, in consequence of tier siipiwsed 
influence over Miss Reed, and in order to pet over tlio contradiction of receiving letters 
ftora a dead person, to tliusu who knew tlie latter facts, she suggested tliat the lutteni 
were forged '. And we lulieve tliat she now insinuates the tame thin?, for in n s( iirrilouv 
communication in tlie Coniinercial Ua/.ette of April I, 1K!,">, wliidi was piven tu that paper 
forpuldication, hy her publisliers, Itussell, Odiorne fc Co., and undoulitedly written by her 
pKblisliing Connniltce, speaking of Mary t'rancis, tlu; wiiter intimates iJiat she has beeu 
made way with, notwiilistanding the Ictt'Ts from her in Mi;i9 Heed's possession. VVu 
pledge ourselves that the puMir ehall be informed moft J'ully nn the subject, as fc-on ul 
the circumstances will possilily admit of its being done. 



XXVlll 

the Convent, and seem unimportant in themselves, are nevertheless 
«hiefly falsehoods in direct terms, or by implication. The cases are 
constantly occurring, where a sentence, or even a word is made to 
suggest an untruth and to mislead the reader. In every thing relat- 
ing to herself and family this takes place ! Those who were well ac- 
quainted with their condition, will smile at the mention of her jew- 
elry, (page 65) as the treasures received from her dear mother ; her 
ten dresses, (page 95), taken from her at the Convent, and as she 
intimates never returned ; also, at the answer relative to her educa- 
tion ; (page 55) to say nothing of the family prayers, and the appli- 
cation of Miss H. to be kept by her as a domestic ! As to her jew- 
elry, except the crosses given to her by her CathoUc friends, it is 
well known to those persons, Mrs. G. P. & H. with whom she re- 
sided, that it consisted of an old pair of five shilling ear knobs, 
which were probably given her while in service as a domestic. So 
her ten dresses will dwindle to a wretched small stock ; and it can 
be abundantly proved, by those persons to whom she went destitute 
and as a beggar, that at the time she entered the Convent, all 
the clothes she had, which were not derived from their charity 
were not worth three dollars. Such is the magnifying powers of 
Miss R's. mind ! It is disgusting to be obliged to speak of such 
matters, but as she affects the lady, she has rendered it necessary. 
So of her education. We do not wish to be too discursive upon the 
matter, but we cannot help recurring to her precious verses once 
more, and to ask the reader, first to read page 55 of her book, and 
then to read the verses, and a deceit peculiar to her, and conspicuous 
on every page of her book will present itself. 

Miss R, by her famous letter to the Editor of the Courier, copied 
in her book, page 29, has exposed her veracity to be impeached by 
Protestant testimony. She undertakes in that to justify herself 
ngainst the suggestions that her stories had been instrumental in 
the destruction of the Convent, or that they had been extensively 
circulated before that event. With this view, she is made by her 
scribe to say, "that she had conversed with but very few persons 
about it, and had held no conversation of importance on the subject 
with but two persons, the Rev. Mr. C. in Boston, and a friend in the 
country." That '' she had sometimes been pressed with questions, 
but had avoided them as much as possible, that she had made only 
general statements, such as she did not approve the institution and 
that the discipline was too severe, &c." She says farther, that her 
" manuscript had not been extensively circulated, and that she had 
not even permitted her sister to read it." Now if it be proved that 
she had told particular and very slanderous stories to any single in- 
dividual, besides Mr. C. and the resident in the countrv, she will 



XXIX 

stand convicted of a deliberate and wilful falsehood. The same 
consequences will follow upon the proof, that her manuscript had 
been extensively circulated previous to August 11th, 1834. 

Now previous to that time, it was matter of notoriety, that storiea 
very like those contained in her book, were the subject of common 
conversation inCanibridge, West Cambridge, Charlestown, Medford, 
and Boston. It can be jjroved by undoubted testimony, that threala 
to destroy the Convent, had been made in Medford and Charles- 
town for nearly a year before the event took place, (and i)robably 
much earlier,) and in consequence solely of the odium her stories 
had occasioned, and to revenge her ill treatment. Now this fact 
proves that by some means those stories had been extensively cir- 
culated. It can be abundantly proved that she told these storiea 
to the ])ersons with whom she resided or associated — to the teach- 
ers and pupils of tlie school she attended in Cambridgeport and 
Charlestown ; — that she was in the habit of meeting small parties 
of friends and other curious people, and exhibit herself in prostra- 
tions, and recitations of Latin prayers. To more than one person 
in Cambridgeport she declared or intimated, that the nuns had 
attemi)ted to poison her, while in the Convent. In a word, it seem- 
ed to be her business to attract attention to herself by these stories. 
And it is singular, that with the horror of a Convent and the terrible 
associations it must bring to her mind, she has continued to thia 
time, to affect the deportment and manners of the nuns, and in that 
way, made herself conspicuous in the schools she attended. She 
even attempted to introduce a practice of kissing the floor at Mr. 
Vs. school, where she acted as assistant. As to her manuscript, 
which she says was not extensively circulated, it is certain, that it 
was seen by the three teachers whose school she attended in Cam- 
bridgeport, and the families and acquaintances of two of them. It 
was left for indiscriminate use, at two boarding houses in that place, 
by Dr. II. and others of East Cambridge, and was seen by many mem- 
bers of Rev. Mr. Fay's and I\Ir. Jackson's society in Charlestown, 
and many j)ersons in Boston. It was |)roposed at a meeting of some 
members of the society last mentioned, to publish her stories as a 
tract — a proposition which Mr. J. had the good sense to oppose. 
The manuscript was in his family, und we aver that any person 
might have seen it who had the desire. It is said in her book, by 
her publishers, that she had lived retired in the bpsom of her fami- 
ly, since her elopement, &c. On the contrary few persons liave 
lived in so many places, and conversed with so many individuals. 
She seemed to pos.sess a sort of ubi(iuity — we hear of her every 
where. They say also, that her manuscript remained for nearly 
a year before August 11th, in the hands of her Reverend pastor — 



XXX 

and she told the Boston Committee much the same story. Mr. C. 
expressly contradicts the facts, and stated to tliat Committee that he 
had not had it for eighteen months. Snch are the audacious false- 
hoods which are unhesitatingly published on her authority, to 
screen her reputation until her book shall have performed its pious 
office. So much for the truth of her assertions relative to the cir- 
culation of her slanders. — Mark ulso the inconsistency of that let- 
ter, in the statement, tliat "she felt it her duty to give Mrs. F. all 
the information in her j)ower," about the Convent, because she had 
a daughter there, and the statement, immediately following, that she 
sought to avoid Mrs. F. — and that when she soon after met Mrs. 
F. to her " disappointment," in Mrs. F's. own house, the very place 
where she ought to have been disappointed not to have seen her, 
she withholds all, except general information, which Mrs. F. did 
not ask, and gets rid of the conversation as soon as politeness would 
allow. How consistent! She denies the expression imputed to her 
by Judge F's. letter, that she was the humble instrument in the 
hands of Providence to destroy the institution at Mount Benedict, 
and at once betrays her consciousness of the truth of it, by suppos- 
ing it was obtained from her conversation with Mrs. F. which she 
alludes to. Now there was not the slightest allusion to IMrs. F. or 
to any [)anicular conversation with any person, in the letter she was 
answering; — she had never, as she says, used this expression to 
anv one ; and yet she sees at once, whence it is derived, and her 
consciousness betrays her. If she had been well advised, she would 
have contented herself with a general denial ; but she must attempt 
to show how the expression originated. She admits she said, " she 
was an humble instrument in the hands of Providence," to shew her 
friends the truth — and yet immediately before, she affirms, she was 
very careful not to be the cause of excitement, that she had con- 
cealed her stories " even from her own sisters." At one moment 
she is an instrument to show the truth, (meaning the stories about 
the Convent) to her friends, Avho, judging from her expressions 
would seem to be innumerable, and in the next, she is very careful 
to conceal it. — Another fart, showing the contradictions and incon- 
sistencies which she, as all habitual liars, run into — is, that she had 
always an ambition to publish her stories, — that within the year after 
leaving the Convent, her father twice applied to the Hon. T. Fuller, 
then resident in Cambridge, to call and see his daughter, with a 
view to publication. Now from all these ^cts, and inconsistencies, 
is it not perfectly evident, that all the imputations, of which she 
complains, were perfectly well founded, and that the Boston Inves- 
tigating Committee, and Judge F. have done her no injustice, but 



XXXI 

fiave said as little to her discredit as their search after truth would 
pciniit ? 

We will here add another circumstance, for which we shall pro- 
bahly be thanked by the followers of Miss Reed. Slie said to a lady 
of unexceptionable character for veracity, who had u daughter at 
the Convent, "you may think it i)rc.»uming in rue to advise you, but 
I do advise you to take away your daughter from the Convent, for 
it will come down within a year"!! I and it was destroyed within 
eight or ten months of that time ! Lo ! gentle readers, you have a 
jjrophetess as well as a saint ! 

We cannot omit to notice her extraordinary testimony in Court, 
on Biizzell's trial, (see Kep. p. 55.) Although it was obvious she 
could testify nothing relative to the issue, there was a strong desire 
to excite the prejudices of< the jury against the Convent, by Miss 
Reed's testimony, under pretence of discrediting the Superior's evi- 
dence. But the Court interfered and prevented her [)roceeding 
beyond a few sentences. She first states, " she lived there as a 
c/ioiV m/er," a fact which her own book disproves, and which is 
denied i)y the whole commuMity, the Bishop and others. It was itn- 
possible also, as she ought to have known, and did know, — a choir 
sis'er is a professed nun, who has taken the black veil. She was not a 
member of the religious community at all, as was well known to all 
the religious and all the lay sisters, and to the pupils. She said she 
had a religious name 3Iary Agnes, which is denied by all the Conunu- 
nity, and the pu[)ils never heard her called by any other name than 
Theresa, or Miss Reed,' — that she had books handed to her by Mr. 
Paine and Mrs. Graham, as from the Bishop — a fact which both 
Mrs. Graham and the Bishop deny. In her book she says Mrs. G. 
gave her two books, lettered with her new nan:e, proving that she 
got her new name before she went to the Convent. In point of 
fact, Mr. or Mrs. Paine gave her those books, and not Mrs. G. or 
the Bishop. If permitted. Miss R. would have gone on, no doubt, 
and sworn to all the stories in her book ! Is it possible, that a per- 
son who has falsified so audaciously, and called God to witness her 
truth, can be iu a sound state of mind, and possess moral accounta- 
bility ? For her sake we hope such is not the case. 

As to the narrative of Miss R. it is almost below criticism. To 
intelligent and educated j)ersons, who know how to judge by inter- 
nal evidence, it would not be necessary to say a word to disprove its 
credibility and to prove it a paltry jumble of inventions, and the 



1 It has already Veen seen how and whrn she got the name ; and the use ahe intended 
to make of it, to prove hervelf a si.itrr, ia obviouf. 



XXXll 

production of an extremely feeble and ill regulated mind. There is 
no method or arrangement, but great vagueness and incoherence. 
Many of its incidents are utterly insignificant ; actions without mo- 
tives, and effects without causes, and the very members of a sen- 
tence, often without the slightest relation to each other. To give 
specimens of these faults, would hardl/ be worth the time of the 
reader, as the truth of its matters of fact is the chief object of our 
inquiry. The attention of the reader is invited to them only to 
show, that confusion of mind and desultoriness are characteristic of 
her narrative, and to some extent, should affect its credibility. 

She says in her letter to her Committee, page 37, speaking of the 
composition of her manuscript, that she was able at first, to make 
only memoranda, but in the course of about a year, — as the Commit- 
tee, page 14, and her own letters make it out, — she drew it out, and 
endeavored to get it "iri her own simple language''^ into the " form of 
a narrative." If it had been a plain unvarnished tale of truth, a 
very few days would have sufficed, but fiction is the work of inspi- 
ration. She was obliged to wait, we suppose, till the fit came on. 

A leading and remarkable trait in her book, are the insinuations 
and suggestions that lurk in even the apparently insignificant inci- 
dents and conversations she relates. We can only afford space to 
a few specimens, we do it to show the stispicious and crafty nature 
of her own mind, desirous of creating similar suspicions on the 
minds of others. 

She speaks of the Superiors /^rone (only a chair!) and the Nuns 
approaching the Bishop or Superior kneeling and kissing their feet, 
&c., to create the idea of slavish fear and subserviency, with a view 
undoubtedly to make the Convent odious, as anti-republican. In 
point of fact, the Ursuline Community is a perfect democracy, as 
appears by their constitution. The members are elective and so is 
the Superior, who is merely the chief among equals, and liable at 
any time to be deposed by ballot. In page 147 she expresses " a 
Jear" judging from the " threats and looks" of the Superior that she 
should be confined in the "cellar." The reader has here three words 
suggesting violence, severity, and the use of the dungeon. These 
strange insinuations and dark expressions occur in every part of the 
book, by which the Superior, particularly, is charged indirectly with 
the odious vices of cruelty, duplicity, levity, austerity, pride, folly, 
caprice, dishonesty, vulgarity, stratagems, sorceries and deadly de- 
signs! — The instances are endless, and involve every body whom 
she has any motive to place in a false light. 

She undertakes (p. 159) to give some account of the School, but 
admits she knows little of it. She knows, however, just enough to sus- 
tain the charge of an attempt to influence the religion of Protestant 



XXXUl 

pupils, and of severity in tlie discipline. She takes care not to re- 
member the names of pupils, who were made "unhappy " by these, 
or some other causes. These suggestions are entirely contradicted 
by all those persons who have had the best means of knowing the 
truth, and what is strange, by Miss R. herself, in Iier conversations 
witli many persons. 

She j)retends she was prevented seeing her sisters, when they 
came for that purpose, and yet she has declared to several persons, 
that she felt so lifted up above her relations, for a long time after 
she went tiiere, that she despised and refused to see them when they 
called — and that she afterwards thought that her conduct had been 
very sinful in that respect. She hid herself from the sister who 
called to see her at Mrs. G's, (as mentioned in page 183) and Mrs. G. 
had to use her authority to give that sister an opportunity to be 
"overjoyed" at seeing her. She gave no notice to any of her rela- 
tions, that she had left the Convent ; and, while affecting to fear the 
Catholics would kill her, continued to live with and among them for 
several weeks, and has remained in their vicinity ever since. She 
and her Committee intimate, in sundry places, that her health was 
shattered by hard usage ; that she suffered from cold, penances, 
strange looking food, &c. &c. ; and that, when she eloped, she was 
so " pale and emaciated" she was not in a condition to see her lath- 
er, and required time to recruit. She also says she showed Mrs. G. 
her wounds and her frozen feet, in terms intimating great ill usage ; 
and that Mrs. G. " sympathized with her, but did not urge her to 
say much, as she was very iceak" — by this expression intimating 
quite an exhausted state ! Now, will it be believed that, in the eyes 
of Mrs. G. and her family, three sober, observing people, who saw 
her immediately before, and after her residence at the Convent, she 
had improved, in a remarkable degree, in apparent health and flesh ? 
Will it be credited, that the frozen feet proved to be chilblains, to 
which she had been subject many years? — and that she never 
thought to mention the sprained wrist ? Yet such is the case, as 
the y)ublic will soon learn, by testimony taken in the most solemn 
form. It would seem as if it were beneath her genius, to deal in 
plain matters of fact ; — so strong is her propensity to proceed in 
her own way, that when she eloped, (p. 174) she undertook to climb 
a fence, although there was a gate close by her. She talks about 
porters and dogs, as making it difficult to escape — (p. 152.) She 
had been at the Convent very often for more than a year, a suppli* 
cant, on foot and alone, and knew, as well as every other visiter 
there, that porters and dogs were never employed — that the gate 
stood usually open, and a dog or man was seldom seen. There was 
nothing on earth to prevent her going down into the road, as honest 

£ 



XXXIV 

people usually did. But her purposes did not allow so simple a pro- 
ceeding and she went down to the back side, where was a common 
rail fence, that she could fall over. She forgot to shew Mrs. G. 
her fingers, which she broke in climbing the fence, as she did to 
some of the children of Mr. Valentine's school! and she has forgot- 
ten to mention this circumstance in her book. 

We have observed that the very title of her book "Six months in 
a Convent," contains a falsehood, and it certainly was to be expect- 
ed, and perhaps proper, that the title should correspond with the 
body of the work. The Superior states that she entered on the 31th 
September, 1831, and eloped January 18th, 1832, four months and 
six days after, and fortunately her acciu'acy is verified to a high de- 
gree of certainty, by letters sent to Rev. Mr, Byrne, and Mrs. G. 
relative to R. T. R. about the time of her entering and leaving it, 
and now in their possession. The error of nearly two months is of 
some little importance to prove the badness of her memory, or her 
utter disregard of accuracy or truth, and affords to the Superior, 
some advantage in the comparison. It will be a necessary inference 
from Miss R's own book that she could not have entered the Con- 
vent for some weeks after the sixth of August, because it was after 
that time, that on a visit merely, she relates a conversation she had 
with the Superior, (p. 67,) relative to a publication in the Jesuit of 
August 6, 1831, copied into the Introduction (page 21); — now it ap- 
pears from the subsequent pages that some weeks must have elapsed 
after this conversation before she was received as an inmate, 
which reception, she says, took place the 5th of August. This is a 
direct contradiction, incapable of any fair explanation. We will not 
however dwell longer upon the contradictions and absurdities of 
Miss R's book, they grow upon us at every step. 

Among the other unprincipled means resorted to by the enemies 
of the Catholic Religion and institutions, is, the propagation of the 
idea, through the public press, that in any question where the inter- 
ests of their religion are concerned, the Catholics are not to be be- 
lieved ; and men of considerable standing — respectable editors of 
newspapers, are not ashamed to avow a sentiment as intolerant, as 
unjust, and indefensible both in law and reason. It is an opinion 
that invades individual right ; — that makes a Catholic an outlaw, 
and subverts as to him, a fundamental principle of our constitution. 
IJ: is an assumption, which is attempted to be justified upon the false 
application of an imputed but denied dogma, that faith is not to be 
kept with heretics. No lawyer of any reputation, would dare to risk 
his reputation by offering, in the presence of an intelligent Court, to 
maintain such a position, to a jury. At the trial ©f Buzzell, upon 
some indication of that idea,the Court promptly interfered, and Chief 



XXXV 

Justice Shaw observed — ''The Court think it proper to remark that 
the religious faitli of witnesses is not a subject fur ar;L'uuieiit or 
proof. I may add, that not only in conformity with the principles 
of the law generally, but by our constitution and laws, witnesses of 
all faiths are placed on the same footing, and each is to stand on 
his own individual character." — [See page 55, Buzzell's trial.] 

Fortunately in the case of Miss Reed, we do not depend upon 
Catliolic testimony alone. Fortimately, we say, because we know 
that we have deep rooted prejudices to overcome, address almost 
wliom we may ; but we point out facts and circumstances afforded by 
Miss Reed and her friends to disprove her own stories. We have 
shown too many striking proofs of her duplicity and wickedness — 
duplicity that allies itself to deep depravity, — wickedness exhibited 
in the settled and desperate pur()0se of adding to the crimes of rob- 
bery and miilnight burnings, the destruction of ciiaracter and repu- 
tation, as unsullied as the icicle " whicli hangs on Dian's tem|)le." 

Our object in the foregoing pages, has been to e.vpose, what we 
are convinced, on the most conclusive evidence to be true, that Miss 
Rebecca T, Reed's "Six Months in a Convent" is a mere tissue of 
falsehoods and misreiu-esentations ; and in its design and tendency, 
in our judgment, it is the most atrocious lil)el that ever issued from 
the press ! — We have forborne to go further into her i)rivate history, 
or into that of her family, than was necessary for our purpose of 
showing her general character and credibility. It will be observed 
that she and her friends, put all her stories upon her own personal 
credit, unsupported by a solitary witness, or circumstance ; and in 
the face of all probabilities. On the other hand, we have undertaken 
to show, that upon the testimony of all persons, who had any means 
of knowing or judging of them and upon the internal evidence, de- 
rived from their inconsistency, improbability and absurdity, they are 
utterly unworthy of belief, and that consequently the author. Miss 
R. is either a lunatic or an impostor The reader will judge if we 
have succeeded. We have intended to state nothing, as fact, that 
cannot be proved by satisfactory evidence, if opportunity should 
occur. We have been obliged to omit numberless facts and consid- 
erations, all tending to the general effect of discrediting the book 
and the author; but we could not pcrsuaile ourselves that more was 
necessary, than we have done. 

It is extremely painful to be obliged to expose a young wotnan, 
wlio is easily called an innocent, and an humble and defenceless fe- 
male ; but when that female unsexes herself and sets about the work 
of detraction openly and publicly; when she undertakes upon any 
pretence to destroy the reputations of retired, religious and de- 
fenceless women, at whose hands «lic has received notliing bu( 



XXXVl 

benefits, she presents herself in a character which entitles her to 
no sympathy and renders it absolutely necessary in defence of in- 
nocence and truth, to call things by their right name;;, and to do 
what is attempted in this review of her work. It is admitted by 
herself, that after long solicitation she obtained admittance to the 
Convent as an object of charity ; — that she was fed, clothed and 
instructed, by the Ursuline Sisters, who could have had no motive 
on earth, but a chai-itable one, for she had neither property, or 
friends, or influence. She had neither mental capacity, docility, or 
solidity of character, to permit her even to become a member of their 
Community, and she never received the least encouragement to that 
effect. Finding her hopes disappointed, she elopes in a dishonora- 
ble manner, and either from revenge, vanity, or as a means of living, 
commences the abominable work of ruining her benefactors by the 
private circulation of unfounded calumnies. Even if iier stories had 
been well founded, she was the last person who should have been 
the willing instrument to diffuse them to the jjrejudice of those, who 
rescued her from poverty and want. The precepts of the religion 
which she so zealously professes, and so flagrantly dishonours, 
should have held her hand, and the voice of gratitude should have pei'- 
suaded her to a better course. Taking it for granted, that we have 
established her total want of credibilily and the falseliood of her 
charges, her conduct presents a case of monstrous ingratitude, that 
most hateful of vices, and reckless wickedness. If she be a moral 
agent, which charity has led us to doubt, she affords an instance to 
illustrate the doctrine of total depravity, such as the world has sel- 
dom seen. She exhibits the reality of t!ie fabled adder, torpid with 
cold, that pierced with its venomous fangs, the benevolent bosom, 
which had warmed it into life. 

But we think hardly less ill of the persons who have encouraged 
her in this course. No doubt many, perhaps most, have been 
imposed upon by her apparent sincerity, and sanctimonious man- 
ners ; but that men of some standing in society, should have lent 
their countenance to so anti-christian a proceeding, is extremely 
to be reprobated and deplored. The conflagration at Mount Bene- 
dict, effected by a banditti of robbers and incendiaries, if it had 
found no abettors and apologists afterwards among the orderly 
and respectable portion of society, would have been comparative- 
ly a trifle. But it was only the signal for a religious persecution, 
and the display of a spirit of intolerance and hatred, that have set 
man against man, broken in upon the harmony of society, and in- 
flicted a deep stain upon tiie reputation of the community for intel- 
ligence and virtue. The brands from that burning have set fires 
throughout the country, that seem already to have consMmed all the 



XXXVll 

christian virtues and to tlirenten, that religion itself will not escape 
unscathed. Public justice has been mocked, and the religious zcn- 
Ints, who iiiivu looked only to the destruction of catholicity, in their 
sayings and doings, may find to their sorrow, when too late, that 
they have been the means of undermining the security of private 
rights, public order, and the religion they venerate. It is in vain to 
attempt to shut our eyes to the truth ; the enemies of our republican 
institutions, — of the christian faith will not fail to pour into our ears, 
their ri»licnle of our boasted superiority in the former, and our pre- 
tended toleration in the latter. We shall stand exposed and help- 
less, bound hand and foot by our own folly, to hear the sneers of the 
one, and the rebukes of the other. 

So far as discussions upon the subject of Catholicism interest the 
public, we are happy to see them going on. The effect is to bring 
out the whole strength of argument upon one side or the other, and 
the public mind becomes enlightened upon a toi)ic deeply interesting 
to tlie inquiring Christian ; but when resort is had to such side wind 
attempts to crush a sect, by imposing false tales, with regard to 
members of that sect, upon the public, it is time for the oppressed 
to forget the attack uj)on their religion, in the more direct defence 
of themselves. The Catholic religion has nothing to fear from Miss 
Reed's book, and nothing that requires of its believers a defence ; 
it is private character and conduct that is assailed — as dear to the 
innocent ladies attacked, as the religion which supports them under 
the ])ersecution they have suffered. They ask none, who read this 
vindication, to be convinced of the good influence of Catholicity or 
its foundations; but they do call upon the intelligent, however much 
they may despise the faith of the Ursulines, to do them the justice 
of carefully weighing the defence they here put forth against a 
torrent of calunmy, that has rushed upon them, as individuals. They 
are desirous that jNliss Reed's book may be read, not glanced over, 
with a pre-determination as to its truth or falsehood, but carefully and 
discriminately read, being satisfied that, in a land whose people arc 
universally distinguished for the exercise of their intellectual ca- 
pacities auti judgments upon every subject, they will come to a right 
understanding of the character of that unfortunate girl, who, for the 
last three years, has availed herself of the general prejudice, preva- 
lent among Protestants, to slander, defame and misrepresent tho 
Ursuline Community. 



NOTE. 

Miss Reed's publishing committee have corrected the date of August 5, 1831, by a substi- 
tution of August 7. They say it was a mistake, and that Miss Reed immediately observed it, un 
seeing it in print. Is there one of her publishing committee, blinded as we believe some of 
them to be, willing to come forward and swear, that Miss Reed never sajc the proof impres- 
sions of her work, or that she did not see the words "August 5, 1831," in print, before it 
was too late to correct the error? — or, if not soon enough for that correction, that she did 
not see the words in time to add an errata, in binding up the sheets ? No, we feel assured 
Gf this fact. But the change, from the 5th to the 7th, does not help her in the least ; it was 
& chanire of error, and this appears, first, from her conversation about the article in the 
Jesuit, (which was August 6th,) with the Superior, which she says took place during a 
visit ; and from her own statement, she did not go to the Convent to reside for some time 
after that. "Afler this conversation, she says, she (the Superior) wrote a letter to my 
father." "At my next interview," (after the one in which the conversation was held) " with 
the Superior, she however told me my father had become reconciled to my remaining with 
them two or three quarters ;" all this after August 6th, 1831. Could she have gone to the 
Convent to reside August 7th? Add to this the testimony of Dr. Byrne, confirmed by this 
testimony furnished by herself, and it is conclusive. She states, (page 66) that she stood 
sponsor for Mrs. Graham's daughter. Now this, according to the record of it, made at the 
time, was September 4, 1831. Further: I received three notes from the Superior, relative 
to Miss Reed, bearing date August 12th, September 9d, and September 11th, 1831. In the 
one dated September 2d, the Superior writes : " I think it best that Miss Reed should make 
her confession and communion before she enters;" and in the one of September 11th : " If 
she (Miss Reed) has made it (her first communion) to-day, will you be kind enough to di- 
rect her to come immediately after high mass ? " 

Reader, are these lettets forged ? And if they are, how are the circumstances to be dis- 
posed of? Is Dr. Byrne the forger as well as the liar ? Was all this foreseen, provided for, 
and arranged, to contradict Miss Reed on a point, material only to show the deliberate 
manner in which she states an untruth, and persists in it ? The reader will remember, 
that there is no qualification of her remark as to the time ; and now, since she has had an 
opportunity deliberately to reflect, she fi.xes upon the 7th of August, as the time of her en- 
tering the Convent. 



ANSWER. 



As the head of the Ursurine Community, I liave no wish 
or desire to conceal that the attack of Miss Reed upon my 
character and conduct, and her foul aspersions upon the reli- 
gious order to which I belong, have given me and my reli- 
gious sisters many hours of anxious pain and suffering. The 
last few months have been prolific with injuries and persecu- 
tions inflicted upon our inoffensive association of unprotect- 
ed females. We have not, however, yet become so habituated 
to the contumely and abuse that is daily heaped upon us, as to 
be weary of maintaining, before the world, that innocence and 
purity of conduct and motive, which form our only shield 
against those who, from fanatic zeal, or baser motives, are 
endeavoring to crush us. It is a duty that I owe to myself, 
and the Community of which I form the responsible head, to 
assert, before the world, the falsehoods and baseness of Miss 
Reed, and to prove them to be so, as far as the nature of the 
charges against us will admit of proof. Of herself, Miss Reed 
is nothing : as an instrument in the hands of designing men, 
she is capable of extensive mischief and injury. Her false- 
hoods did us no harm, as long as they were circulated, by her 
alone, among those who were acquainted with her character ; 
they become important only when adopted by an irrespon- 
sible association, well knovra, however, as leading agitators and 
sectarians. 

Possessed of a flighty and unsteady disposition of mind, 
disinclined to the work and labor, which the extreme poverty 
of her parents made it necessary for her to perform, Miss R. 
has, as appears from her own statements, indulged herself in 
foolish and romantic reveries, the principal part of which have 
consisted of a life of seclusion, where she might enjoy her 



2 

idle propensities to their full extent. She came to our Com- 
munity, doubtless, in the belief that she would have nothing to 
do there, but to read, meditate, and join in our prayers. She 
found that every hour had its employment, and that constant 
labor was one of the chief traits of our order. The novelty of 
the scene wore away, and the hours she imagined she should 
spend with so much delight, as an inhabitant of a cloister, she 
found, to her sorrow, appropriated to the duties of every-day 
life. She left us, and we should have forgotten her ere this, 
had she profited by her experience with us ; had she acquired 
the steady, industrious habits we endeavored to form in her, and 
found a situation as a sempstress, or other useful employment, 
in some respectable family. 

Unfortunately, her love of the marvellous and her powers 
of misrepresentation prevailed against her better nature ; and 
as, among the ignorant, she could always find ready listeners, 
by whom the supposed secrets of a cloister or a nunnery must 
have been greedily listened to, she found an opportunity of 
indulging her idle habits, her wanderings from house to 
house, her talents for mimicry, her desire of display without 
the labor of preparation, and her enthusiasm in the cause of a 
new religion, — 'all at our expense. It was" pleasanter and easier 
to her thus to go about abusing the Community who had fed 
and sheltered her, than to return to a home of poverty and 
ignoble labor. She became a young lady at board, instead of 
a hard-working menial. She ceased to be an object of charity, 
begging for lodgings at Mrs. Graham's, and there supplied 
with clothes, at the expense of an honest Scotch family, who, 
believing her stories, pitied her case. She became, as it 
were, an idol of the good. Dr. B., the Rev. Mr. C, the pious 
Dr. F., and their friends, all visited her, read her manuscript, and, 
though disappointed that it was not as bad as they expected, 
yet they thanked ber for what she had written, and inspirited 
her to still better things : — " they shall have their reward." 

I am sorry to be the means of thus taking from Miss Reed 
some of her claims to be considered " a young lady," and I 
respect myself too much to wish to condescend to any un- 



necessary personalities towards her, but she has placed me in 
that position before the coinniunity which makes the whole 
truth necessary. I am unused to subterfuge, either in words 
or actions ; and where I am bound to speak at all, it must be 
with plainness and freedom, and in strict accordance with the 
truth. From my cradle upwards, I have been taught to de- 
spise a lie and deceit of every kind ; and I am too old now to 
change, if I would, the weapons of truth for those of false- 
hood, though I should, in the latter case, oppose Miss Reed 
with her own contemptible means of warfare. 

I have labored under some difficulty, as to the most perspic- 
uous and convenient mode of answering the tissue of falsehoods 
woven in Miss Reed's book, and have concluded, since there 
is no connection or order in her statements, to take them up 
as they successively present themselves in her book. I shall 
not, however, notice them all : many of them can only be met, 
being mere assertions, with the counter assertion of their falsi- 
ty ; and many of them are so absurd in themselves, that, 
when Miss Reed's true history has become familiar with the 
reader, they will require no comment. As to the statements 
of this nature, I generally declare their falsity, and leave to 
the candid reader of this vindication to bear me out in the 
assertion, if the facts can warrant it. 

(Page 4.) Miss Reed did not come to the Convent in 
August, but on the 11th of September, 1831. , Our design 
in admitting her, was not to fit her for becoming a teacher in 
the Convent, nor a recluse ; but to enable her to obtain suffi- 
cient education to keep a small school, whereby she might 
have a moderate salary for her own support.^ So far from ex- 
j)ressing dissatisfaction, after being with us "six" months, 
the very day on which she eloped, she entreated, with tears, to 
be permitted to take the white veil. She had no reason for be- 



I As proof of III i^t iisscrlioii, wt- refer lo Rev. Mr. Croswell, with wliom Miss Ueeil run 
.';iilterl,;istoeriterin};llle Coiiveiit. lie advised her logothire, :n :i goml pWui- tcMililiiiii an 
cdiii-ntioii, ill order lo iiislriirtollicrs. She roiirealed from liiiii thai shi- wauled lo Ihtomib 
a nun, and in fact wjiif aetiiiu lh<' lij pocrile to him for weeks liefore she finally left liiiii 
for the Convent. If she changed her religious faith, it was before coining to the Convenl. 



jdi^- 



4 

lieving that " her return to the world would be opposed," but 
knew, on the contrary, that she must leave at the expiration 
of six months from the day she entered. There was no ob- 
stacle to her communicating with her friends ; but, as she was 
a mere beginner in writing and composition, she preferred 
not ; or, in other words, did not like the trouble. She did not 
leave the Convent in February, but January ISth, 1832. 

(Page 7.) Our prices for education were at the lowest, 
not the highest rate. Should a young lady, " crossed in love, 
or disappointed in securing a fashionable establishment in mar- 
riage," apply to become a "nun," she could not he admitted: 
nor can "wealthy parents, who have more daughters than 
they can portion, in the style they have been brought up, find 
it convenient or practicable to persuade the least beautiful to 
take the veil." Our rules forbid us to receive any who have 
these sinister motives. 

(Page 8.) I declared, in my testimony, on the trial of the 
rioters, that the vows of my religious order were poverty, 
chastity, obedience, and the instruction of female youth — 
not " poverty, chastity, and obedience ; to separate ourselves 
from the world, and to follow the instructions of the Superior." 

To purchase the land of Mount Benedict, and to erect the 
Convent, all our funds were laid out. The " profits " of the 
school were not employed solely in the support of eight nuns 
and two novices. With those "profits," furniture, instru- 
ments, books, and various conveniences for the school, were 
procured: the land which, in 1827, was, literally, a barren 
hill, was cultivated and embellished with the same " profits." 
To accomplish this, one, two, or three men were constantly 
kept on the farm, at the rate of twelve, fourteen, sixteen, or 
eighteen dollars a month, besides their board; and, in the 
spring and summer, ten or twelve men, for months at a time, 
were employed, at a dollar a day. We supposed that, in 
beautifying Mount Benedict, we were manifesting due respect 
for the town in which we were situated, and an interest in fur- 
thering its importance. With the " profits of the school," 
provisions were purchased for the pupils, as well as for the 



Community, and for male and female domestics. Those same 
"profits" enabled the Community to clothe and educate, gratui- 
tously, from one to six pupils, every year (not Catholics, exclu- 
sively). I was likewise a member of two Protestant chari- 
table associations. Petitions and subscriptions were often 
brought to the Convent, which I always signed. No person, 
in distress, ever came to the Convent, who was sent away 
unrelieved. Many times, when a pupil, after entering, was 
obliged to return home before the expiration of a quarter, and 
when parents have, unexpectedly, been called away, the 
amount of the quarterly bills has been returned. Journeys to 
distant places have been paid for poor people — wives wishing 
to join their husbands, husbands their wives, and men and 
women their families. All these circumstances were un- 
known, except to the trustees, the members of the Comnui- 
nity, and the beneficiaries — as we are told in Scripture, 
" that our left hand should not know what our right hand 
doeth." We had not sixty pupils constantly ; but the number 
varied, and was sometimes as low as thirty. On an average, 
however, we had about forty. 

We do make a vow of poverty ; but the word poverty 
may admit of various modifications. It is well understood, 
when we take that vow, that we do not engage to live like 
mendicants. We make use of the necessaries of life, but deny 
ourselves its super jluities. Our food is plain, but ivholesome ; 
and our clothing unexpensive and without ornament. Things 
in the house are used in common; and we consider ourselves 
particularly bound, by this vow, to keep our hearts " detached 
from the things below, and fixed on those above." 

(Page 8.) Our object in embracing the Ursulinc Order 
was, with more facility to lead a life of piety ; and, at the 
same time, to do good to society, by promoting the education 
of female youths, without distinction of religious belief. 

(Page 9.) Every one that wished to become acquainted 
" with the whole interior discipline of both pupils and teach- 
ers," could easily obtain information from any of the young 
ladies who have been in the Institution since the school was 
ojieneci to the presfi»"\ day. 



Many ladies and gentlemen) the parents and friends of the 
pupils, were introduced into the interior of the Convent ; but 
it would have been an interruption to the pupils, as well as an 
encroachment upon the time and duties of the teachers, had 
these visits been frequent. 

As we were not indebted to the bounty of the public for 
the erection of our Convent, we did not consider there was 
any obligation to invite or permit them to investigate our 
private concerns; but, as the property was our own, we 
considered that we were at liberty (with the approbation and 
concurrence of the trustees) to manage our affairs as we 
pleased. 

Though I am a foreigner, I was not " brought up in the 
seclusion of a convent." On the contrary, I was educated 
in the good common schools of the time ; and few females, 
perhaps, have travelled and mingled with the world more than 
it was my lot to do, before I became a member of the Ur- 
suline Order. 

1 did not introduce the Community or myself into Boston ; 
but, in April, 1824, I came at the earnest solicitation of 
the former Superior and her sisters. They had then been 
established nearly four years ; and the Superior, having lost 
Irwo of her sisters, and being for a long time ill of consumption, 
and seeing her last hour approach, wished me to replace her. 
I acceded to her wishes, but did so very reluctantly. 

(Page 11.) The contents of this page are erroneous. 
The author says, " There are pupils from the Nunnery, who 
declare, that serious attempts were made to affect their reli- 
gious opinions." No such attempts were ever made, and 
the rules of our Institutions forbad it. 

It continues; — "And, in truth, could it possibly be 
otherwise, with ingenuous girls, living in the romantic atmos- 
phere of a Roman Catholic Nunnery, with all the mysterious 
and externally-imposing ceremonies of that religion constant- 
ly j)assing before their eyes and ears, in a portion of which 
they daily participated? " We had no mysterious and exter- 
nally-imposing ceremonies, but simply had divine service on 



Sunday mornings, during whicli time llie pupils were directed 
to read their iJiblcs : consequently, tlie ceremonies of our reli- 
gion were not constantly " passing before their eyes and ears," 
nor were they obliged " daily to participate in a portion of them." 

Miss Reed, even, could have enlightened the Committee on 
this point, as she says she saw but little of the scholars, and 
mentions as an extraordinary fact, that " they were sometimes 
at vacation permitted to enter the Connnunity and embrace the 
Religreuse." p. 159. 

(Page 12.) Miss Reed's health was not "seriously im- 
paired by religious austerities and seclusion." So far from 
practising the least austerity, while in the Convent, she had a 
great plenty, and the best of every thing, with regard to diet, 
*as she appeared very delicate, when she entered, and said she 
had, for a long time, been most cruelly treated by her family. 
She was not permitted to do any laborious work ; but, after 
she entered, finding she was averse to study, and that she had 
a great difficulty in learning, she was permitted to attend to 
music, as she said her friends thought she had a talent for it, 
and would be pleased to have that talent cultivated. We 
thought, likewise, as she was not a person calculated to make 
any great exertion of body or mjnd, that teaching music would 
be a pleasant and genteel means of support to her. She con- 
tinued, however, to devote a part of her time to the study of 
spelling and grammar. 

It is a fact, and all the pupils who were in the Institution at 
the time, and Mrs. Graham, to whose house she afterwards 
went, can bear witness to it, that, before leaving the Convent, 
she was quite fleshy, had a healthy and florid countenance, and 
had improved much in her personal apiwarance ; whereas, 
when she entered, she was feeble, pale and emaciated. 

(Page 34.) The "Jesuit" of 1831 does not say that 
when a Catholic changes his religion, he "is to be driven, by 
persecutions, to intemperance, madness or suicide." The 
writer of the piece alluded to, supposed that these might be 
the consequences of remorse, but not of prrscciitinit, for our 
religion does not sanction such want of charitij. 



8 

(Page 37.) The first time I ever saw Miss Reed, was in 
December, 1830. She requested, several other times, to have 
an interview with me, but was refused, and told that we wished 
to have nothing to do with her. She conversed with the 
portress, and told her that she was a destitute and persecuted 
being ; that her father had driven her from his house : that her 
brothers and sisters in Boston had cast her off; and that if I 
did not take her, she had no place but the street. She applied 
to Rev. Mr. Byrne, in Charlestown ; and, having prevailed on 
him to write to me, requesting I would have a conversation 
with her, I consented to see her twice in the course of nine 
months. In each of these visits she solicited, most earnestly, 
to be admitted as a servant ; ^ and when I told her she was too 
delicate, she assured me she both could and would be able to 
wash, iron, scrub the floors, and do other laborious work. 

She spoke much of her father's cruelty to her ; but I ad- 
vised her to return to him, to beg his forgiveness, and be in 
future a dutiful daughter. She said he would not allow her 
to step her foot in his house, and that he did not care where 
she went.* The Rt. Rev. Bishop and Rev. Mr. Byrne 
were moved to compassion by her stories, and requested me 
to do something for her, saying she was a destitute girl, and 
might be exposed, if left in that unprotected state. I told 
her it was out of the question to think of being received as a 
servant ; that we already had sufficient help, even supposing 
she were capable of discharging that employment ; but that 1 
would make an offer, to her father, of giving her six months' 
schooling. I did write to him, but never received an answer 
to my letter. He told the bearer that he would call on me, 
but he did not do so ; and when, in my third interview with 
Miss Reed, I told her I had not had an answer from her 
father, she told me not to expect any ; that he was a violent 
man ; ^ that he wished to discard her forever ; but that, as she 



1 This is not the first time of her going out to service 

2 She told the same stories to the family where she was before entering the Convent 

3 As a proof of his violence, see " Six Months in a Convent," p. 62. 



was eitfhteen, she was at liberty to decide for lierself.' He 
delivered a messafje to Mrs. L., namely, that I ought to iiave 
nothing to do with his daughter; but that message was not 
transmitted to me until five months after, when Miss Reed 
had left the Convent some time. 

After reluctantly acceding to her wishes, and acting from 
the purest motives of charity and friendship, I do think it very 
ungrateful in Miss Reed, to misrepresent, as she has done, 
every thing that she witnessed in the Convent ; and to slan- 
der those from whom she never received an unkind word, but 
who manifested towards her every mark of kindness. 

(Page 38.) I did not answer Mr. Farley, that we were 

preparing Miss Reed to instruct in the school, but in a school." 

With regard to the receipts for sixty scholars, we never 

had that number, except once ; and then not longer than two 

weeks. 

Very few of our pupils attended to any of the extra branches 
of education, except music and French, for instruction in 
which a mere trifle was charged ; and when the various ex- 
penses of the Institution, as before detailed, are taken into 
consideration, I think all will agree that, with small educa- 
tion and board-fees for the pupils, it required some economy 
to keep the Community entirely free from debt. 

It is a mistake, that Miss Reed " was well skillerl in or- 
namental needle-work." She could do a little lace-work, 
like some school-girls, but appeared totally ignorant of every 
other kind of " ornamental work." She did a few sprigs on 
a robe, by way of amusement, during the hours of recreation ; 
but she never made any ornaments for the altar; therefore, 
" her industiy, in that department," could not have been 
" a full equivalent for all the charity she received at the Con- 
vent." If the editor of the " Jesuit " said she was " very 



1 On page f>8, Sf iss Reert admits the letter being written to her father, which proves, In 
connection with her own statements in various places, how anxiously it was desired not 
to have her, except by her parent's consent, and why she told so many harsh stories of 
her father's treatment to her. 

2 In my testimony, however, I did make one mistake as to the lime when I first saw 
Miss Reert. I have correctly stated the time i.n page 8. 



10 

capable of obtaining a livelihood by her knowledge of the va- 
rious branches of needle-work," he relied, entirely, on what 
she said of herself. 

The story of meeting her brother on a certain bridge, origi- 
nated from herself : she told it to a great many persons, and 
related the same to me, as well as to the other members of 
the Community. 

(Page 40.) If I •' admitted, under oath, that Miss Reed 
would know every thing which took place during the time 
she was with us, excepting what occurred in the school- 
room," I did not, thereby, give sanction to the misrepresenta- 
tions and falsities which she has circulated. 

(Page 41.) Our dwelling "was accessible, at proper 
times, to the parents and friends of its numerous inmates." 
When pupils were sick, they were always permitted to re- 
ceive visits from their parents or guardians, and the school- 
room, sleeping and eating-rooms were likewise visited by 
them. Such visits were not frequent, as before stated, for 
they would have been an interruption to the regular operation 
of the school. 

We had no " public exercise of the scholars," as the largest 
room in the Convent did not conveniently hold all the pupils, 
with the Community. 

The thousand dollars in my desk, at the destruction of the 
Convent, were destined, with what we might afterwards be 
enabled to add to that sum, for the erection of a building, or 
large hall, for public examination. Four hundred dollars of 
that sum were likewise due to Mrs. B., the instructress in 
dancing. 

If the Hon. S. P. P. Fay " never saw the school at the 
Convent, and never, but once, went beyond the parlor," it 
was not because he might not have done so, had his avoca- 
tions permitted. He always appeared satisfied with the prog- 
ress that his daughter had made, and expressed no wish to 
investigate the interior of the school. 

(Page 42.) We did not " freely admit to our most pri- 
vate apartments, at all times of day or night, a number of 



11 

clergymen : " on the contrary, at the time of the destruction 
of tlie Convent, we did not know, even by sight, any of the 
Catholic cler«ry in Boston, except the Rt. Rev. Bishop, and 
one other clergyman, who performed divine service for us 
when the Rt. Rev. Bishop was absent from the city. It is 
a solenni triiih, that no man, clergyman or secular, was ever 
permitted to be in tlie Convent after eight o'clock, P. M. 
(and very seldom after §even o'clock), except once on Christmas 
night, and the evening on which Miss Harrison had left the 
Convent, when I sent for the Rt. Rev. Bishop, to apprise 
him of the circumstance. It was after seven o'clock, that I 
received information of her being at West Cambridge. 

(Page 43.) There was no rule which obliged us " to 
knock three times before entering an apai'tment, and to wait 
for the knocks to be returned ; " nor did we do so. 

(Page 50.) Speaking of when we went to Mount Bene- 
dict, Miss Reed says, " We were in school, but had permis- 
sion to look at them as they passed." We passed at five 
o'clock in the morning, and school did not commence till a 
much later hour.' She says, on the same page, " By the 
word ignorant is meant what they term heretics.'' This is 
the first time that I ever knew such a definition was attached to 
the word ignorant. Miss Reed's memory is not the least 
surprising of her accomplishments.^ 

(Page 54.) When Miss Reed visited Mount Benedict, 
I did not embrace her, nor did I sit, but I stood for a few 



1 TliiHcan be proved by the lady who kepi Ihe school, wlio can and will inform inquir- 
ers OS to Miss Eeed'^ character for vrracity and acquiremenU, even at that early period. 

2 It would gratify a laudable curiosity to know what the " other reasotui,'^ p. 51, were, 
that caused Miss Reed tu visit New Hampshire, and who sent her up there. At this page 
we meet with her only attempt at ekmuence and fine writinir. " Memory ofl brings to 
view and faithfully delineates those hoursof retirement and happiness," (where.' in New 
Hampshire.' No '.} " which I should spend, were I an inhabitant of a cloister." This is 
a memory worth posse.'iKing, thit delights to bring to view and delineates hours which it 
imagintd it should spend. It Ls a very good memory that brings to view the hours spent ; 
how much better is that, which presents the hours, we imagined we should spend, and 
thus realizes our visions 1 It is eijual to the echo, which, to the words ' How do you do?' 
returns, ' Very well, I thank you.' 



12 

moments only, to say that I thought it best she should not 
come to the Convent, even as a visitor, lest her friends should 
suppose that I had enticed her. I did not ask the questions 
which she there says I did; and, as to the expression, " O, 
it feels more like a pancake than any thing else," it is one 
of her own delicate fabrications : those who know me will 
never believe that such an expression came from me. 

(Page 55.) She did not say that she " wished to go into 
the school attached to the Nunnery, on the same terms as 
other pupils, until she had made sufficient progress to take the 
veil, and become a recluse," but asked admittance as a servant, 
even after I proposed, at the third interview, that she should 
be a.pupiV 

(Page 56.) '"At a subsequent interview," I did not re- 
mark that I beheved she " had a vocation for a religious life," 
for I did not think she had : it appeared to me, from the first 
time that I saw her, that she was a romantic and ignorant girl ; 
and it was from this persuasion, that I told her I wished to 
have nothing to do with her. When she said she wished to 
be a Catholic, and desired some instructions from me, I re- 
ferred her to the Catholic clergy, saying we had no time, and 
did not give such instructions then, though we had done so 
formerly. I did not mention a Mr. R., who would introduce 
her to the Rt. Rev. Bishop, and had never heard of the gen- 
tleman, until she spoke of him, said she was acquainted with 
him, and would get him to introduce her. I did not say that 
" the Bishop or Mr. R. would discuss the matter with her 
father, and reconcile him to Catholicity." " 

(Page 59.) She did not " call upon me to make me ac- 
quainted with her conversation with the Bishop, and with her 



1 She first went to the Convent, according to her own statement, pp. 52, 53,54, with an 
acquaintance who liad been " a domestic In Mr. H. J. R.'s family." 

2 Mr. R., she says, "desired I would secrete the paper on which the te.\ts were quoted." 
This is one of the numerous instances, where a thing must be secretly done, and where 
the caution was idle. Mr. R. called, she says, at her father's house, without any secrecy, 
and yet two or three te.xts, that are in every Bible, and might have been turned to, are 
handed her, and she is told to secrete the paper I 



13 

refusal of the Catechism." ' 1 likewise disavow the followins: 
observations on page 60, and I certainly did not embrace her. 

(Page 61.) S!ie was not "a constant visitor at the Con- 
vent ; " and I never sent for her more than once, which was 
the third time that I saw her. She came up, unexpectedly, 
one day (tlie second time that I ever saw her), when the 
Rt. Rev. Bishop was on the land. He requested me to ad- 
vance and see what she wanted, but said he did not wish to 
liave any conversation with her.* I did not embrace her at 
all; — far from doing so "in the most affectionate manner." 
It was at this time that she told me, if 1 did not take her, that 
she would throw herself into the canal, or kill herself in some 
otlier way. I told her, these were no expressions for a Chris- 
tian, and that, so far from gaining upon me by such language, 
she only persuaded me the more firmly, that I ought to have 
nothing to do with her. She was known as Theresa Reed at 
this time.^ 



1 Slie unwittingly tells of her going to the Bishop, and if any one will read the conver- 
sation she details, they will see the propriety of his conduct. She goes there, iis one pro- 
fessing to be desirous of becoming a w«n. Does he encourage her? No! He asks her, 
if she knows what the nature of the duties of a nun are,— how long she had hetn con- 
sidering the matter, — her opinion on the Catholic faith she was about to adopt, and the 
opinion of her friends. All this was peculiarly proper, — then comes this remarkable sen- 
tence. "As my feelings were easily wrought upon, more particularly at this time, ques- 
tions were put to me, which more mature deliberation leads me to think were put under 
the impression that I was very ignorant, and which were very unpleasant for me to an- 
swer." If any other questions were put to her, I should like to know what they were, — 
if no others were put but those of this general nature, I readily understand why mature 
consideration leads her to think they wore put under the impression she was very igno- 
rant, and which were very unpleasant for her to answer: the questions most probably 
discovered her entire ignorance of the vocation she sought, of the tenets of the faith she 
wished to adopt, and the exposure of her ignorance was, doubtless, unpleasant to a sensi- 
tive creature, whose feelings were easily wrought upon. 

2 The flrst interview probably satisfied the Dishop. 

3 There is an amusing circumstance in relation to Miss Reed's names. She was bap- 
tized at the Episcopal Church in Cambridge, under the name of Rebecca Theresa. Nei- 
ther father, mother, brother or sister, were her sponsors. When she became a Catholic, 
she asked Father Byrne for a second baptism, which he refused, slating to her, that her 
first baptism was as efficacious as if performed in the Catholic form. But she was not to 
be daunted in this way. She asked him if the baptism would have been good, if the 
clergyman had used no water, lie told her it would not. Then, said she, I have not 
been properly baptized, for the clergyman used no water at my baptism. Afterwards, be- 
fore a number of persons in open church, weeks, if not months, before her entering the 
Convent, Father B., reciting that whereas she had before passed through the ceremony 
of baptism in the Episcopal Church, which, if duly performed, was, in the sight of God, a 



14 

(Page 67.) She told a long story of the persecutions she 
had to endure from her friends, as well as the unkind feelings 
and expressions of Mr. E. against us and our religion ; but 
I neither felt nor manifested displeasure ; nor did Mrs. Mary 
John, or Mary Benedict, who were present. As to jewelry 
of hers, that she speaks of, I never saw any; — the poverty 
of her parents was such as not to allow it to be supposed to 
extend further than to a pair of ear-rings. 

(Page 78.) I did not say to her, " O, you will die a 
martyr to the cause of truth ; " for I had no supposition of her 
death. 

I did not tell her, " that her father had become reconciled 
to her remaining with us two or three quarters, after which 
he would inform us whether he would consent to have her 
stay there longer, as a teacher of music." There was no 
conversation about her being a teacher of music : she had 
never taken lessons, and it was not likely that she would be 
competent to that employment in six months.^ 

(Page 79.) I told her, in order to remove all unpleasant 
feelings of dependence, that she could be of use to the Com- 
munity, by her needle, when not employed in study, and that 
we did not wish the assistance of her friends. During the 
four months that she passed with us, however, she did very 
little needle-work. 



good and sufficient baptism ; and whereas she had stated that, in said ceremony, she was 
not baptized with water, which, if true, would render null the ceremony, declared, if all 
these things were true, and in case said first baptism was thus invalid, he baptized her by 
the name of Mary Agnes Theresa, a name by her chosen. 

1 Pp. 59, 60. When she called upon the Bishop, he gave directions to Mr. R., as she 
says, to purchase for her a Catechism of the Catholic church, a book containing the rudi- 
ments of a faith she wished to adopt, and which, it is apparent, she knew nothing about. 
She refused it, but why, it is impossible to divine, for, a week after, she expressed to me 
the same strong desire to become an inmate of the Convent. On p. 62, she says she saw 
the Bishop and Lady Superior, and at that time, she thought them " the most angelic per- 
sons living." Her mind had changed towards the Bishop without any assignable cause, 
in the most miraculous manner. After this conversation, she returned to her father, who 
was much displeased with the steps she had taken (what steps .'), and bade her renounce 
all connectum vnth the Catholics, or leave her friends. She adopted the latter course, and went 
tinally to Mrs. G.'.s ; and hence arose her lie, that she had been turned out of doors. 



15 

I did rioi invite her to tlie Convent, but said that I consent- 
ed to it, and that she could enter on the lllh of September. 
I promised to do all that I could for her, but made no engage- 
ment of " protecting her forever, and particularly from the 
persecution of the heterodox." 

She often, after entering the Convent, made such extrava- 
gant expressions as these: — " O, if I could take a cross and 
go through the streets of Boston, making known the true 
faith ! O, if I could show my zeal for Jesus Christ, and 
convert my Protestant friends I O, if I could preach to the 
heretics, and make them know their errors!" When I told 
her it was wrong to speak in this way ; that it was enthusias- 
tic, and that she should not hold forth insinuations against any 
denomination of Christians, but have charity for all, she was 
astonished, and said she thought such opinions too liberal. 

(Page 70.) I told her that 1 had consulted with the Rt. 
Rev. Bishop, with regard to the expediency of placing her in 
the senior or junior department, and that we had concluded 
to let her remain with ourselves, as she was quite a young 
woman ; that she would feel unpleasantly, being very igno- 
rant, to be subjected to the criticism of the senior pupils ; 
that the same objection might exist, with regard to her situa- 
tion with the junior scholars,' many of whom were intelligent, 
fine children ; and that, moreover, on account of the dispar- 
ity of age, she might not be happy in their society. She re- 
joiced, that "so great a privilege" was extended to her; and 
said we were making her one of the happiest of beings. 

I did not say, that she would be received as the other 
sisters were, and that they were to support themselves by their 
talents and industry. 

Neither I nor my sisters recollect ever to have heard Mrs. 
Mary Ursula say daoun for down. She is an elderly lady, 
educated in the old school; and, it is true, pronounces some 



1 At the town school, near the Convent, which she attended at the age of fourteea, ibe 
could not read as well aij cliildren at the age of six. 



16 

words in the old style ; but when any observation was ever 
made to her about it, it was done kindljr, as sisters, in a pri- 
vate family, would do to each other. We never supposed, 
when Miss Reed was with us, that she was a spy, who, at a 
future period, would turn common-place and innocent conver- 
sations into tyrannical and abusive language, and make her 
reports accordingly. 

Neither Mrs. Mary Ursula nor the other sisters were 
obliged to kneel, down and kiss the floor : Miss Reed would 
make it appear, that "kissing the floor" was an important 
and frequent occupation of the inmates of the Community. It 
was not the case ; and even were it so, it is an innocent 
thing, and can be censured by no one, particularly when jJM-ely 
a voluntary act. The remarks upon this subject are intended, 
I presume, to caricature Catholic forms of worship. 

It is singular that the inmates of the Community should be 
so far duped, as to allow themselves to tremble in approaching 
me ; particularly, as it has depended on them, entirely, since 
the first three years that I have been their Superior, to de- 
pose me, and to choose another in my stead, should I, by 
word or action, have rendered myself obnoxious to their 
censure. 

(Page 71.) "The latter" (meaning, I suppose, Mrs. 
Mary Austin) " was both teacher and pupil." This is incor- 
rect : she was like the other members of the Community. 

The following never took place. " She then desired me to 
kneel down, and take the following obligation : I do, with 
the grace and assistance of Almighty God, renounce the world 
forever, and place myself under your protection, from this 
day, to consecrate myself to his honor and glory, in the house 
of God, and to do whatever obedience prescribes, and tell no 
one 01 this obligation but Mr. B. in confession." 

I have no recollection of the pocket album, or of the fifteen 
dollars. 

No such visit, as that spoken of in page 72, ever took place ; 
and she entered September 11th, instead of August 5th. She 
agrees that she entered on Sunday ; but on examining the cal- 



17 

endar for 1831, it is found, that the. fifth of August falls on 
Fnday.^ 

She was not " requested to kneel and continue her devo- 
tions, until the Superior made her appearance." 

The " large crucifix, made of bone, which I was after- 
wards informed was made of the bones of saints," was actually 
paper ; and this is the first time that I ever heard of its being 
made of bone. 

" She took from her toilet a religious garb, which she 
placed upon my head, and bade me kiss it, saying it had 
been blessed by the Bishop." I had no toilet ; and I placed 
on her head a cap, which I am sure the Rt. Rev. Bishop 
never saw. She wore a cap, as it is a regulation that any 
individual, who is admitted into our Community for a cer- 
tain time, and is separated from the pupils, should bear this 
distinction. 

(Page 73.) In putting on her cap, I pronounced no "short 
Latin prayer." jMiss Stimpson was not kept, for she had an 
aunt and friends in Boston, who said they would receive her 
at any time. I made no attempt to deceive Miss Reed, by 
saying "she had gone to another order;" nor can 1 con- 
ceive what inducement I could have had, either trifling or im- 
portant, to impose upon her by such a story. 

(Page 74.) There was no "office of adoration to the 
Blessed Virgin." Catholics honor, in a special manner, the 
Virgin Mary, as she is the mother of Christ; but they do 
not adore her. Adoration they pay to none but God." 

On going into the refectory, the Community do not, "after 



1 Miss R.'s accuracy is remarkable. She aayg (p. 67), on one of her viniu to the Com- 
munity before re>ii(llne, she h:ul n convcr:<atipn about ii piei:e in the Jesuit, which is pub 
lished in the prefarc of her biMik. The date of it is Aucust Ii, ISIU. Arcordin^ to her 
statement, it was not until some tune after, that she became an inmate of tlie Convent ; 
and yet she fixes the dale at August 5, 1831, a day before the article in the Jesuit ap- 
peared. 

2 JSjB to the stories on this pagn about ihe pear, it is a little singular that Mi.s.s R, should 
have learned the rules of the Convent the first hour of her admission, and that a candi- 
date for the order was ignorant of tlieni. 

3 



18 

saying Latin, kneel and kiss the Hoor, at a signal given by the 
Superior on her snufi-box." 

The conversation, with regard to the words " In nomine 
Domini nostri Jesii Christe," has been entirely fabricated by 
Miss Reed.' 

(Page 75.) No such things ever occurred in the Convent 
as performing " several devotions, kissing the floor, and re- 
peating Latin, while the angelus was ringing ; " nor had we 
rules " enclosed in a gilt frame." 

(Page 76.) We had no such rules as those Miss Reed 
has specified in this and the following page. The fourth, 
ninth and tenth, were generally practised, but were not among 
the " rules.'' The rules of our order are printed in the Ap- 
pendix. 

(Page 78.) We never knelt in the presence of the Bishop, 
' except two or three times a year, to ask his benediction. 

" His Holiness the Bishop," and " the Father Confessor," 
never concerned themselves about our diet ; and we had no 
" permission " to obtain from them " to gratify our appetites." 

There was no rule which forbade us " to approach or look 
out of the window of the Monastery." This may have origi- 
nated from Miss Reed being told not to waste too much 
time in looking out of the windows, instead of studying her 
lessons. 

No sandals and haircloth were worn, and no punishments 
inflicted " upon ourselves with our girdles." 

The Community slept on good, not hard mattresses, pur- 
chased at Mr. Foster's, in Charlestovvn. Each member of the 
Community had the following complement of bed-clothes — 
sheets, pillow-cases, four blankets, a comforter, and counter- 
pane. When the weather was severe, tho^e who wished for 



1 The remarks, in the note of Miss Reed, in which she says, that the Superior told her 
that she should not indulge curiosity, is one of the thousand that are stated, having neither 
point nor meaning. If tlie term idle curiosity had been used, a well-merited reproach 
might have been conveyed, perhaps ; taking away the word idle, leaves it pointless and 
absurd. Notwithstanding, in reply to her question, the Superior tells her she must not 
indulge her curiosity, she, nevertheless, goes on, in the same breath, and satisfies by a full 
answer, whether true or false, iicr inquiry. 



19 

more coverinif cuiilcl ask lor it, and il was never denied. In 
proof of this, 1 shall relate the following circumstance. One 
cold day, I asked Miss Reed how she haa slept the preced- 
ing night. She said her feet had been cold. I was surprised ; 
and, telling her 1 feared that her bed had not been properly 
attended to, I asked her to specify what bed-clothes she had ; 
to which she replied, " Cotton and flannel sheets, five blan- 
kets, two comforters, and a counterpane." This occurrence 
is w^ell recollected by those members of the Community who 
were present, to all of whom it w-as a subject of great amuse- 
ment. 

No person at Mt. Benedict, to my knowledge, ever walked 
with pebbles in her shoes, or walked kneeling. There was no 
rule forbidding " to touch any thing without permission." 

(Page 79.) I believe rule 9th, " never to gratify our 
curiosity, or exercise our thoughts on any subject, without our 
spiritual director's knowledge and advice, never to desire 
food or water between portions," is too absurd to obtain credit 
with the most prejudiced or ignorant: — "never to gratify our 
curiosity, or exercise our thoughts on any subject, without our 
spiritual director's knowledge." — By this, it would aj)pear 
that an arrangement was to be made, each Sunday morning, 
for the thoughts of the entire week. 

It was seldom that any food was taken between meals, by 
the inmates of the Community ; but if an individual, on account 
of sickness or debility, found it necessary to take something, 
all she had to do was to ask for it, and it was always given. 

There was no rule obliging us, " on leaving the Community, 
to take holy water from the altar of the Blessed Virgin, and 
make the sign of the cross," though it was sometimes done. 

No member of our Community was ever brought before the 
Bishop for committing faults. 

We could smile when we pleased ; and, at recreation, we 
could even laugh vcnj heartily, without supposing that we 
thereby violated " religious decorum." 

(Page 79.) "Should the honored Mother, the Superior, 
detect a Religieuse whose mind is occupied with worldly 



20 

thoughts, or who is neghgent in observing the rules of the 
Monastery, which are requisite and necessary to her perse- 
verance and perfection in a rehgious life, she should immedi- 
ately cause her to retire to her cell, where she could enter into 
a retreat." — Rule 12th. 

I was not aware, till reading this passage, that I was so 
highly gifted as to be able to " read the secrets of hearts." 
Nor have our cells been discovered, though the premises, one 
would suppose, have been sufficiently searched. 

(Page 80.) The next morning after Miss Reed entered, 
was Monday morning, not " holy day morning ; " and we rose 
at 4 o'clock during the entire year, " holy day mornings " not 
excepted. 

(Page 81.) Complin was not a morning prayer; there- 
fore not recited in the morning. No confessions were made 
to me ; but the members of the Community acknowledged 
to me slight omissions of duty, and in return received my 
advice. 

I had no throne, but always sat in a chair: the other mem- 
bers of the Community, likewise, sat on chairs and benches, 
not " on their feet." 

No one ever repeated to me the form, commencing on page 
81, and continuing on page 82. 

I was never called Holy Mother. The inmates of the 
Community did not kiss my feet, after acknowledging their 
actual faults,' nor did they make a cross with their tongues on 
the floor. 

We took our meals on all days (Fridays included) sitting 
at tables, and not on the floor. 

No ceremony was performed till 8 o'clock, A. M. Be- 



1 This is a most singular confession. " Our mother, we acknowledge that we have 
been guilty of breaking the rules of our Holy Order, by lifting our eyes while walking in 
the passage ways; in neglecting to take holy water on entering the Community and 
choir," &c. &c. It has the particularity of a special confession of faults, which, guilty or 
not, all, it seems, must make. According to Miss Reed, if a person raised her eyes or not 
in the passage ways, she must confess she did, and thus be placed in this dilemma. If 
she raised her eyes, she broke the rules ; if she did not, she must lie in her confession ! 



fore that hour, breakfast was always despatched, the mon)ing 
recreations terminated, and then the school exercises were 
commenced. 

(Pages 83, 84 &c 85.) Miss Reed's statements, with re- 
gard to the ceremonies of table, ai-e furnished from her own in- 
ventive imagination. Our diet generally consisted, at dinner, 
of meat four times a week, with soup, vegetables and bread : 
on the other three days, we had fish and puddings. For 
breakfast, we had bread, with coffee, black tea, chocolate or 
shells: for supper, bread with butter or preserves, and some 
one of the liquids before mentioned. 

If there ever was any mould on the bread, it was by acci- 
dent that it was presented at the table. Miss Reed, being a 
penson of feeble constitution, and not a member of the Com- 
munity, had even delicacies which they had not. 

(Page 86.) All in the Community are at liberty to con- 
verse on what subjects they please, provided they are moral. 
The division of the afternoon prayers, as stated by Miss 
Reed, is incorrect. We prayed from the quarter till half 
past one, and then recited Vespers, which terminated some 
minutes before two. 

We had, at least, one hour's recreation every evening. A 
lay-sister did not " remain kneeling in the entry until we get 
to the psalm called the Tc Deum,'' which is a hymn, not a 
psalm. No bell was rung while it was recited. 

(Page 87.) " Matins, lauds and prayers," continued from 
7 till 8 o'clock, — not till 9. The bell rang at half past 
8, and all were in bed before 9. No one ever remained up 
to " attend lessons and penances." I do not recollect hav- 
ing reprimanded any one for not arranging my seat : it is hard- 
ly necessary to add, that I should not have reprimanded an- 
other for her "remissness." The apartment which she calls 
" the Bishop's room," was so named by the young ladies, 
because it was the room in which he generally entered first, 
when he came to perform divine service. 

(Page 88.) I have no recollection of the circumstance of 
her saying she "liked all pretty well, except my couch;'* 



22 

but if her " cuucli " was not agreeable to lier, 1 doubt not 
it was changed at her request, without the intercession of any 
saint whatever.' 

It is a fact, that Miss Reed never performed one penance, 
while in the Convent, and that, so far from having any " ex- 
haustion," she improved very rapidly in her heakh. There 
were, consequently, no austerities from which it became ne- 
cessary to release her. Mrs. Graham " (Mrs. G.)" and her 
whole family will testify, that she had improved wonderfully in 
her health while in the Convent. 

No one in our Convent arose, during Lent, or at any other 
time, to say "Midnight Matins," and "hear Mass." We had 
Mass 07ie Christmas night, but that was the only time. 

(Page 91.) No such circumstance ever took place as the 
one related on this page, where she makes herself the com- 
panion of the Bishop and myself, — it is too ridiculous for 
credit with any one.^ 

There is not the slightest foundation in the story of Mrs, 
Mary Magdalene. For some months before her decease, 
she was not permitted to attend the public devotions of the 
Community, or even to kneel, in reciting her prayers. Had 
she been treated in the way that Miss Reed represents, 
would it be consistent that her two sisters, who were novices 
at the time, and at full liberty to leave, should never- 
theless have united themselves to our Community for life. 



1 At page 89, she says that the Bishop told her that her sister had been to see if she had 
taken the veil, or had any thouglit of taking it ; and he said I might rest contented, as 
my friends would trouble me no more. She says her sisters say that he told them she had 
not taken the veil, but hoped she would soon do it. Notwithstanding this, she says, at p. 94, 
she was to take the veil privately, lest her father should hear of it, and take her away. 
Does it appear rational that the Bishop should liave thus spoken to her sisters, if there 
was to be any thing private about it ? 

2 The total disconnectedness of her conversation with the Bishop, as stated by her on 
p. 88, will prove its falsity. " He, then, addressing me," says she, " asked how I liked 
Mount Benedict. I said, ' Very well, my Lord.' He then said, ' O, but you will have to 
strive with temptations between the good and evil spirits ; ' and he then explained all the 
horrors of Satan, and asked me where Saint Theresa, my namesake, was ; and told me 
to say, as she did, these words, ' Now come, all of you ; I, being a true servant of God, 
will see what you can do against me ; ' by way of challenge to the evil ones ; and beg her 
intercession." The Bishop has some reputation, even with Miss Reed's publishing Com- 
mittee, for intelligence and good sense, (p 9) : if this conversation took place, he ought not 
to retain that character a moment. 



23 

and are ready to testify as to the kind manner in whicli she 
was U'eated, as will also Dr. Tiiompson, who attended her? 

(Page 94.') No |)reparations could iiave been made for 
her taking the vows, as she here asserts, as we had no inten- 
tion ol' receiving her as a member ol' our Community, and she 
was well acquainted with this determination.^ 

The poetry whicii slie speaks of, was composed for her by 
Mrs. Mary Austin : she, herself, could not pen, correctly, 
two lines of prose or poetry. 

(Page 95.) The idea, that her conversion was " like 
St. Teresa's," never struck me; nor can I, even since she 
has mentioned it, imagine where the similarity lies. 

1 am surprised that she speaks of ten dresses, and I am 
sony to be compeiled to say, that she only had two that could 
with decency be worn; — the pongee, which was given to her 
hefore she entered, in order that she might have the uniform 
of the pupils, and a brown dress.' She sent, a long time after 
she left, for two silk gowns; and in order to exonerate the 



1 It may be well here to allude to the charge of Miss Reed, that she was not at liberty to 
write to, or to receive her friends. The fact was, havin? stated repeatedly that her friends 
had treated her unkindly, and cast her olf, and admitting in her book, (p 62,) that her father 
had given her the option of renouncing " all connection with the Catholics," or leave her 
friends — she had adopted the former alternative ; and she was compelled, as she thought, for 
consistency's sake, to renounce them in turn. She absolutely refused to see them when 
tbey called, as she also did afterwards, at Mrs. Graham's, before she decided whether to- 
return to them or get admitted, if possible, to the orders of the Sisters of Ctarity. Her 
message to her friends, at p. 93, informs them that " I liked the Convent very well, and 
should lie very happy to see them, if Ihcij would not spcaJi n^aiiut myreU^'wn.'''' Does she doubt 
that she could see them, if she would .' and, knowing their sentiments, does it ap|)car un- 
likely, that, on the whole, she should refuse to see them .' Her message, she says, was 
never received ; and she then asserts, that she was deceived in regard to Mrs. Graham's 
friendship. She says this to get rid of the effect of Mrs. Graham's contradiction, who, if 
she is not her friend, is too honest to deceive or to lie. And she says, that tt>e messages 
were delivered to her friends, and that she refused to see her own sister, after she had 
left the Convent, and secreted herself when she called. Mrs. G. was shocked at such un- 
feeling conduct, invited her sister in, and told iMiss Reed that she must see her sister, 
who had come all the way from the City for this purpose. 

2 She says the vows were administered to her " privately," for fear her father should 
hear of it, &c. As the ceremony is always made known. Miss Reed knew, unless she 
could make this appear to have been an exception, the children would all hare contra- 
dicted her statement. It is therefore represented private, in order to avoid this exposure. 

3 The clothes she had at Mrs. Graham's, before entering the Convent, were hardly de- 
cent. Mrs. G. and her friend.-' pave her some When she W-ft her father's, she was des- 
titute. 



24 

Institution from having defrauded her of rightful property, it 
may be well to mention here, that, at the time we were ex- 
pecting the Cholera, and while, of course, we were making all 
due exertion to free the habitation of every thing that might 
cause impure air, necessity forced us to commit them to the 
flames. As to the story of the "long habit" and "veil," 
there is not a shadow of truth in it ; the scholars know this 
story to be false. 

(Page 96.) The ridiculous story of her not rising at the 
Angelus, and its being unnoticed, and a nun omitting the 
same duties, and being penanced for the omission, narrated on 
this page, has no more truth in it tlian the preceding one of 
the "long habit" and "veil."' 

(Pages 97 and 98.) The contents of these pages are in- 
correct. The good sister who is here spoken of, had too 
superior a mind to act as Miss Reed describes in these and 
some of the following pages. However, there was some 
foundation, on which the fertile imagination of Miss Reed 
could seize, in order to produce the interesting details of 
these pages. 

Mrs. Mary Francis had passed some time, in the course 
of her education, with the Sisters of Charity. After making 
a trial of our order, she said she thought theirs would better 
suit her inclinations than ours. She was advised to remain 
some time longer with us ; there being, however, no inten- 
tion, or supposition, that such an arrangement would interfere 
with her happiness. She said, very readily, that she could 
take three months to decide. She was a person very easily 
affected to tears ; and in this state of indecision, they could 
not be restrained. When I saw that her mind was thus 
troubled, I thought it beet that she should come to an imme- 



1 Supposing the story to be true, however, it only proves the assertion, tliat she was not 
one of tlie '^ Religeiise." She states frequent omissions of duty, which were unnoticed 
in her case, and yet punished by penance or reproof in the cases of others, thus drawing 
the distinction that existed between her and the " Rel'gease." Her frequent compliments 
to herself upon her singing and working, as that upon p. 76, put into the mouth of the 
Bishop, are slight evidence of her retiring modesty of character. 



25 

diatc (letcnnination. She did so ; and, concluding to em- 
brace the life of a Sister of Charity, she left Mount Benedict, 
in the beginning of November, 1831, instead of wailing till 
Christmas, as she had at first intended.' 

(Page 98.) Miss Reed was indisposed 07ice, while at 
Mt. Benedict, from a disordered stomach, which occasioned 
faintness : she took an emetic, after which she seemed to be 
perfectly well. It is singular, that when, as siie says, she had 
actually fainted, she could hear me whisper, and say to her, 
she "ought not to have any feelings." 

(Page 101.) Had we felt inclined to use such cruelty as 
to confine Mrs. Mary Francis, the Selectmen of Charlestown, 
as well as the public at large, who have had ample opportunity 
of examining the Convent since its destruction, will be able to 
assert, whether or not we had places suitable for executing 
so shocking a design. We were put to much inconvenience, 
on account of having only one veri/ small cellar, on the south 
side of the building ; in consequence of which, we had not a 
proper place to secure our vegetables.^ 



1 Her course of proceeding, as it rogarJs Sirs. Mary Francis, is a very fair specimen of 
tbe duplicity of Miss Reed's character, taking lier own account. It shows that, even if 
what she relates be true, as it certainly is not, lier forte is duplkilij, — writing on a slate, 
and pretending to write music. — laying a plot to deceive the Lady Superior, — telling a lie 
by conceit with another, — selecting the letters of her real name from a book, when they 
were in conversation, and it might have been spoken or written, — all these tricks, if they 
were not actually played, yet Miss Reed lias shown her fondness for them by the fabrica- 
tion. She says, she has received letters from Mrs. Mary Francis, since her departure 
from the Convent. I know she has written to her, and she admits the receipt of letters 
from her. I call upon her for their production, and desire exceedingly to have that cor- 
respondence brought before the public. Mrs. Mary Francis, or Miss Kennedy, is a Catho- 
lic, and her testimony would be very strong against us. If Miss Reed and she were so 
intimate, and if the events occurred, as stated by .Miss R., there will be no ditficully in 
liaving it confirmed by letters written at the time, and before (.'atholic inlliience can lie 
jiretended to have originated their production. 1 have been told by those who have seen 
the letter!!, that the first is an answer to .Miss Reed's request to bo admitted to the Sister- 
hood of which Mrs. .Mary Francis was a member. Miss Reed deceived Mrs. Mary Fran- 
cis, by telling her that she had not left the Convent, but thought of it (in fact she had 
actually lefX it), and wished to have her advice upon the proposed change. The answer 
has been seen by several persims. The Ursuline Community want no belter priMif of 
the falsehood of .Miss Rei'il, than lliis letter. She admits that slii' has receiveil three 
letters from Mrs. Mary Fr.incin : the public, I doubt nut, will agree willi me as to the 
importance of producing them. 

3 Miss Reed hau asserted to lici friends, (hat Mu. Mary Francis " was Eccrctly coufiiv 



26 

Mrs. Mary Magdalene sewed when she felt an inclination 
to do so, as it was an amusement for her to be occasionally 
employed in something of the kind ; but that she was compel- 
led to labor in any way is totally false. 

We did not know\ till some months since, that Miss Reed 
ever had any pretensions to the name of Mary Agnes. She 
was known, at Mount Benedict, by the appellation of Miss 
Reed. She never wrote a letter to her father or to any of her 
friends while with us,' as near as 1 can recollect. 

Pages 102, 103 and 104, are not true. I should be pleased 
to be informed by Miss Reed, where the "Meditation Garden" 
was situated, for we knew of no such place. The stories 
respecting Mary Magdalene, on page 104, are too inhuman, it 
would be supposed, to be believed by any one ; they are abso- 
lutely false.* 

Page 105 is entirely false ; and the note in which she says 
Mary Magdalene entered the Convent nine months before in 
perfect health, asserts a fact of which Miss Reed could know 
nothing. Before Mrs. Mary Magdalene left Ireland, she was 
pronounced to be consumptive ; and though she died more 
than one year, not nine months, after she entered the Con- 
vent, it was not in consequence of being " worn out with 
austerities." This has already been publicly stated by Dr. 
Thompson. 



ed or made way with," and one person, to whom she told the story, happened to know of 
these letters she now admits having received, and asked her how it could be. Her 
ready reply was, that the letters were forged!! 

1 She could not write as legibly as common children often years of age, and her pub- 
lishers will hardly certify mo.-e favorably of her present chirography. 

2 " Two or three days after this," says Miss R., " I met Miss Mary Francis at my les- 
sons, in the Community, and again asked her to tell me her distress, or I would tell the 
Superior I could not learn of her." Why write it on a slate? as she states they were 
conversing together. Because Miss Reed could never do or say any thing, in a simple 
and straightforward way. She threatens Mrs. Mary F., if she will not tell her what the 
matter is, she will tell a lie to the Superior, about her Inability to learn of her. She 
finally tells Mrs. Mary F., that if she will tell her the cause of her troubles, she will not 
inform the Superior, and upon this promise obtains her confidence. On p. 140, we find 
that Bhe betrays her (o the Bishop. 



27 

Pages 106, IU*<, uiid lOv^, depict Miss Reed's talent in the 
art of dissimulation ; and it is quite natural that a person of 
her description should wish to implicate others with herself. 

We did not know, while Miss Reed was with us, that she 
experienced any soreness on her lungs.' 

(Page 109.) The falsity and absurdity of this page can 
easily be detected by any one who will take the trouble to 
read it. 

(Page 110.) Should a candidate, after a trial of three 
months, prefer not remaining in our order, she is returned to 
her parents or friends, and not placed in another Convent. 

(Page 111.) Mrs. Mary Angela left the Institution in the 
most honorable manner, after residing with us four years. ° 

(Page 118.) Miss Reed never expressed any wish to see 
her friends ; but, on the contrary, when the subject was pro- 
posed to her, she always rejected it immediately. She called 
her relations wicked, and said that her brother P. and Mr. E. 
declared the Convent should come down ; but that it had 
been her mother's dying request, that she should endeavor to 
be received there. 

(Pages 120 and 121.) The details of these pages might 
be imagined and executed by the narrator, but by few others. 

" I began," she says, " to be much dissatisfied with the 
Convent. My views of retirement, however, were the same 
as ever, and I thought I would go to the Sisters of Charity, 
where Miss Mary Francis was educated, as she had promised 
to introduce me there. She told me that I should be call- 
ed to the public apartments (as an assistant in ornamental 



1 The following amusing senlence occurs on pp. 108, 109. " She," the Superior, " ob- 
served that I looked melancholy, and commanded me to tell her the reason. I replied 
that I did not feel well, that my lungs were sore, since taking the emetic, tc. She said 
that was only a notion, and hade me tell the true reason, without any fi|iiivocntion. 
My words were, I did not like her so well as formerly. She exclaimed, 'O, my child, I 
admire yon for your simplicity,' and asked me the reason for not loving her, which I de- 
clined giving." Admirable girl, delightful simplicity ! I Here the simplicity consists in 
a practical illustration of the lie direct and lie circumstantial. 

2 See her letters in the Appendix. 



28 

work)." This sentence shows how defini';e her views of re- 
tirement were. She wanted to go to the Sisters of Charity, 
to work in the public apartment, open to every person who 
chose to call. This, I candidly believe, is the only kind of 
retirement Miss Reed ever desired. 

On page 121, she relates a plot, laid by her, to deceive 
me, by which Mrs. Mary Francis was to get released from 
the Convent, as follows: — ^"Miss Mary F. was to complain 
to the Superior that I would not give proper attention when 
at ray lessons, and I was to tell her that I could not receive 
any benefit from Miss Mary F. on account of her grief and 
absence of mind. This we fulfilled to the letter. We also 
agreed on a signal, by which I should know whether she was 
going with or without permission. If she went without per- 
mission, she was to tie a string round an old book, as if to 
keep the leaves together, and lay it on the writing-desk ; if 
with permission, she was to make the sign of the cross three 
times upon her lips." They then prayed to God to forgive 
them this deceit. After the prayer. Miss Mary F. " select- 
ed from a book the letters forming her real name, that I might 
write to her in case I could not get an opportunity to give a 
letter to Miss I." 

This string of absurdities is remarkable. Miss Reed never 
saw Mrs. Mary F. again, — the plot, she would have it thought, 
succeeded. But what the plot has to do with Mrs. Mary F.'s 
leaving the Convent, is beyond conjecture. Then as to the 
signal — one would suppose she could speak as well as to 
make the sign of the cross. If these do not show artifice and 
deceit without motive, nothing can. Then, again, why 
should Mrs. Mary F. take so much trouble to make known 
her name : it would have been much more expeditious, as 
well as convenient, to write it, or tell it ; but it would not 
have answered the views of the narrator to take so simple 
and plain a method to accomplish her object. 

(Page 123.) Miss Reed here comes to taking the vows. 
Slie never took any vows. No one, that is not lost to every 



29 

principle of religion and irutli, will dare aflinn il. Tlunikfiil 
to Heaven 1 am, that no vows of this lying girl were ever 
uttered, to my knowledge, while she resided with us. Had 
she taken it, would not the scholars have known it? She i:« 
even ignorant now as to what the vows are. She talks of 
white and black vows, — there are no such vows known. They 
are names of her own adoption. 

(Page 1-25.) Mrs. Mary Magdalene had not a lock of her 
mother's hair, nor was she directed to burn all her treasures." ' 

The story of her falling prostrate, Sec, is of course false, 
as well as the one on page 1'26, about preparing her a i)lace in 
the tomb : except for the inhumanity of the act, they would 
have been too ridiculous for denial. 

(Page 12G.) She made no objection, as she states, to pur- 
sue her music. She came, as she was advised by Rev. Mr. 
Croswell, to be instructed, in order to become a teacher on 
her own account, but tried very hard to be allowed to join our 
Institution. 

(Page 1'27.) I insert this page for the advantage of those 
who, by any chance, may not have read Miss Reed's book ; 
to comment upon it, is useless. If this story be true, we not 
only imposed upon others, but allowed ourselves to be imposed 
upon. 

" On one of the holy days, the Bishop came in, and, after 
playing on his flute, addressed the Superior, styling her Ma- 
demoiselle, and wished to know if Mary Magdalene wished to 
go to her long home. The Superior beckoned her to come 
to them, and she approached on her knees. The Bishop 
asked her if she felt prepared to die. She replied, ' Yes, my 
Lord ; but, with the permission of our mother, 1 have one 
request to make.' She said she wished to be anointed before 
death, if his Lordship thought her worthy of so great a favor. 
He said, ' Before 1 grant your request, 1 have one to make; 

1 Ilcr treasures, she says, "consisted of written pnyers, iHioks, papers, a lock of ber 
mother's hair," &c. On page 112, she says, " A few ilnys after the death of Ulary Mag- 
dalene, her desk was brought forward, that the Hnpcrior micht examine it, and distribute 
it) conienls to those she thought most worthy," and that she did distribute them ac- 
cordingly. 



30 

and that is, that you will implore the Almighty to send down 
from Heaven a bushel of gold, for the purpose of establishing 
a college for young men on Bunker's Hill." She then goes 
on to state, that the Bishop told the members to think of what 
they liked best, and upon being asked to name what she de- 
sired most, Miss R. replied, " I then said, I lacked humility, 
and should wish for that virtue." Artless, unaffected creature ! 
How well this request comes from the plotting eavesdropper, 
that she represents herself to be 1 I am sorry to say, how- 
ever much she needs humility, she never made the request 
for an increase of it. The whole story is the fertile but natural 
offspring of her brain. 

(Page 130.) Mrs. Mary Magdalene took the vows before 
she died, at her own repeated and earnest solicitation, as she 
thought it would be a great consolation to her, and contribute 
much to her happiness and peace of mind. 

Many young ladies have been present when the vows were 
taken by the inmates of the Community, and they can certify 
that no coffin was ever used on those occasions.' 

(Page 133.) Miss Reed says, "She" (the Superior) 
" frequently called me her holy innocent, because she said I 
kept the rules of the order, and was persevering in my voca- 
tion as a Recluse.''^ It is utterly untrue, that I ever used 
such an expression towards her. I had, ere this, discovered 
her to be a foolish, romantic girl, and felt no interest in her; 
but Miss R. is fond of appropriating praise to herself, and I 
should not have remarked upon the sentence, if she had not 
placed a reason in my mouth for calling her my holy innocent, 
as false as the expression itself. She admits, in various pas- 
sages of her book, that she failed in observing the rules, and 
one occurs on the very page preceding ; and as to her perse- 
verance in her vocation as a Recluse, she was not one. 

On the same page, she says she asked for a Bible once or 
twice, but that she never saw one while there. This is a 
falsehood, made to suit the vulgar notion, that Catholics are 

1 Tlie ceremony of taking the vows has always been one of the few ceremonies that 
were public ; and parents have frequently attended, with their children, this ceremony. 



31 

not allowed to read the Bible. Every scholar in our jichool 
was required to bring a Bible ; the number belonging to our 
Community was considerable, and they were all within her 
reach. It was unnecessary even to ask for one. 

(Page 135.) I was at the bedside of Mrs. Mary Magda- 
lene, during her last moments, had hold of her hand, and 
closed her eyes. I told her, if she was sensible, to press my 
hand, as she could not speak ; and she did so. ]\o lighted 
wax taper was placed in her hand. 

(Page 135.) From this page to page 139, Miss Reed oc- 
cupies herself with the death and burial of our much-deplored 
sister Mary Magdalene. I am charged with inhumanity to- 
wards her while living, and with indifference to her memory. 
If cruel to her while living, it must have been from a love of 
beholding bodily pain and suffering in others, for it certainly 
could not have operated favorably on the minds of her natural 
sisters and the Community generally, thus to expose my un- 
feeling disposition ; the more especially before Miss Reed, if 
she flatters herself that I had a wish to retain her, or to induce 
her to become a member of the Community. Her whole de- 
scription of the death and funeral is, of course, written from 
memory, after a considerable lapse of time ; and I should not be 
surprised to find trifling errors, even if she had written with the 
best intentions ; bu\ the whole narration is so inaccurate, that I 
cannot but believe she had no intention or wish, even in this 
case, to be accurate. She says, for instance, on page 138, 
" After depositing the ".ofRn in the tomb, the clergy retired to 
dinner." The truth y>, that the cofSn was deposited in the 
tomb at eight o'clock in '.he morning. 

Page 139 consists of insinuations against the Bishop, 
charging him with asking her " improper questions," the 
meaning of which she "did not then understand." Of this, 
I can, of course, know nothing, and they must pass for true 
or false, as her character for truih, and the probability of her 
stories, may stand against his denial. 

(Pages 140, 141.) She here confesses to the Bishop, 
that she did not like me, and expiessed her determination to 



leave the order : in consequence of which, he gave her a pen- 
ance to perform, which she performs, because she is desirous 
of being thought obedient. Her " motive was prudence, not 
want of courage ! " Neither of these virtues was requisite : 
a httle honesty, on her part, v/ould have saved us the pain of 
dismissing her — and her, the disgrace which she attempted 
to avoid by running away. 

(Page 142.) Had such a remark been made by any one 
in the Community, that " she hoped there was not another 
Judas among thenij" it would have been very appropriate ; 
and it is quite natural, that Miss Reed should have found it 
difficult " to betray no emotion ; " but we had so little idea of 
the double part which she was acting, that, the evening on 
which she eloped, we felt rejoiced, that she had spared us the 
painful necessity of forcing her to leave at the expiration of 
the six months. When we found there was no doubt that she 
had left the Convent, I said to my sisters, " She is disap- 
pointed at not being allowed to take the veil ; but how grate- 
ful she will always be to you for every little mark of kindness 
that you have so often manifested towards her ! " 

The " balls of a darkish color," I imagine, must have con- 
sisted of minced meat, fried in butter, the taste of which must 
have assumed a strange alteration when placed upon her plate.' 

(Page 143.) " Some days after this," says Miss Reed, 
" the Superior sent for me to practise music, and then made 
a signal for me to follow her to the Bishop's room. This 
room is separated from the others by shutters, with curtains 
drawing on the chapel side. When I had kissed her feet, she 
desired to know why I had cried at practice in the choir. I 
rather imprudently answered, 1 could not tell — I did not cry 



1 The following is the sentence of Miss Reed, alluded to, and is a fair specimen of her 
peculiar method of writing and thinking: — "The next time we met at recreation, one of 
them remarked, she hoped theie was not anrther Judas among them. I endeavored to be- 
tray no emotion, but they still mistrusted I Lad other views ; for, while sitting at my diet, 
in the refectory, I observed my food loas of a kind that I had never seen before ; " that is, — 
I know that they mistrusted me, and thoughi 1 had other views — because, while sitting at 
my diet, in the refectory, I observed my fond was of a kind that I had never seen before. 
This is what the Committee of Publication term " a plain, simple, and unafl'ccted style." 



much. (It then struck me she could not liave seen nje, as I 
was alone.) I said I was very cold,, particularly my feet ; and 
/ had been practising '■Rht-eyed JV/arj/,' and icas ajj'ccted 
by the xcords." Having read this, I need hardly ask the 
reader to disbelieve the rest of her statement, in which 
she finally admits the falsity of the above reasons. She says, 
"I imprudently answered I could not tell," &c. ; that is, she 
spoke a falsehood so hastily as to be imprudent^ for, if she 
had only thought that I could not see her, she might have an- 
swered, ' I did not cry.' Having imprudently confessed it, 
however, she readily accounted for her tears by two more 
lies — downright, admitted lies. 

(Page 14G.) When her sister, with Miss F. called to see 
her, one Sabbath afternoon, I told her she could do as she 
pleased, and that she was perfectly free to see them that after- 
noon, though it was Sunday, but she refused. I told her that 
they sent word to know if she could attend her sister M's 
wedding. She said, that was only a pretext which they had 
taken in order to deceive me, as her sister had been married 
the preceding month. She behaved at the Convent towards 
her friends, precisely as I have since learned she behaved to- 
wards them, while living with her friend Mrs. G. 

(Page 149.) She says she determined to leave the Con- 
vent and then proceeds, " I had reason to think that my let- 
ters were never sent to my friends and determined to convey 
one privately. I stole a few moments and hastily wrote some 
lines with my pencil, and hid them behind the altar, but the 
billet was discovered, and I never heard from it." I imagine 
that even Miss R's imagination, though fertile enough to 
place the billet behind the altar, can give no reason why it was 
placed there. ^ Did she expect that it would be taken by some 
s})irit of the air, or inhabitant of the earth, to its place of des- 
tination, by placing it behind the altar ? 

(Page 150.) Stating it was her turn to be " lecturess," 
that is to read aloud, which she never did, she says, " a book 
was placed before me in the Refectory, called " Rules of St. 
Augustine" and the place marked to read was concerning a 



34 

Religeuse receiving letters clandestinely. I could not con- 
trol my feelings, for what I read was very affecting.'' The 
rules of Saint Augustine are annexed to this answer, and it is 
sufficient to refer the reader to them ; the affecting passage 
referred to by Miss Reed will not, I fear, be found to repay 
the search. ' 

(Page 152.) We had no porters and dogs to watch the 
gate of the Convent, which was always left unguarded, as 
every one who came to Mt. Benedict, must have observed. 

(Page 153.) "A letter was read to the Community that 
was addressed to the Superior, from Bishop P. of Emmets- 
burg. There was no Bishop P. of Emmetsburg, and the 
whole story in relation to my giving it to her to read is of 
course, fabulous. 

Pages 155 and 156, are remarkable only for the ac- 
knowledgments of the petty tricks, which seem so familiar to 
her. First, " pretending not to hear," when called to the 
examination, and second, answering questions with " seem- 
ing ignorance." This is the "singleness of heart" attributed 
to her by the Committee of publication. 

Pages 157 and 158, nre false. The stories are rather too 
marvellous for any practical inferences, though to be drawn 
by Miss Reed. 

Page 160. No pupils were ever punished " for refusing 
to say prayers to the Saints, and to read Roman Catholic 
history" — 300 children can testify upon this subject against 
the statement of Miss Reed. Upon the treatment of the 
scholars, I beg leave to refer to the parents of the children, 
who have been placed under our charge. 

(Page 161.) As a specimen of Miss Reed's " artless and 
unaffected piety," we extract the following : " After this, the 
Superior was sick of the influenza, and I did not see her for 
two or three days. I attended to my offices as usual, such as 
preparing the wine and the water, the chalice, host, holy wa- 
ter and vestments, &c. One day, however, I had forgotten 
to attend to this duty at the appointed hour, but recollecting 
it, and fearing lest I should offend the Superior, by reason of 



35 

negligence, 1 asked permission to leave ilie room, telling a 
novice that our mother had given me leave to attend to it. She 
answered, O yes, Sister, you can go then." Now this he 
was told, admitted by Miss Reed in her book to be a lie, and 
yet she claims to be beheved. She hesitated not an instant, 
and it comes from her as readily as the truth would from the 
lips of ingenuousness. Does the Rev. Mr. Croswell, who 
has read her book very carefully, believe her to be a girl of 
truth and veracity ? 

(Page 162.) Miss Reed appeared to be much affected at 
the idea of leaving us, and asked if I could not get her into 
some other Convent. I told her not to let her mind be thus 
tormented, and that I would see if any thing could be done to 
effect her wishes ; but observed that she still had more than 
two montiis to continue with us. This, I thought, was a 
great consolation to her, as she expressed very great reluc- 
tance to leave the Convent. I told the Rt. Rev. Bishop of 
the desire which she had, and asked him if he could not per- 
suade some community to take her.^ This is the conversa- 
tion which she overheard, and from which she has drawn the 
singular conclusion, that we intended to entice her into a car- 
riage, to get her to Canada in three days^ and to confine her 
in a Convent, lest she should report something injurious to our 
community. 

Of the account of Miss Reed respecting the conversation 
between me and the Bishop, I can only say that I am deceiv- 
ed as to the degree of intelligence her readers possess, if it be 
believed. In the first place, supposing us to be ignorant and 
stupid as to imagine that we could carry Miss Reed to Canada 
against her will, without discovery of it to the world, it cannot 
be believed for a moment, that we could rid the community 
of her and confine her in Canada, without exposing ourselves 
to certain conviction and punishment by the means of her 
friends, who knew she was with us, and who could have at 



1 Her inters to Mi?« Kennedy will show Oiat such wa» her pretended desire, even after 
she loft the Convent. 



36 

any time compelled us to produce her. In order however, 
to give probability to this tale, she relates a story still more 
improbable, and in a manner, which proves its improbability 
in the highest degree. 

The following is the account of a course of proceeding by 
which Miss R. was to be forced into a carriage and carried to 
Canada : " A few days after, while at my needle in the re- 
fectory, I heard a carriage drive to the door of the Convent, 
and heard a person step into the Superior's room. Immedi- 
ately the Superior passed lightly along the passage which led 
to the back entry, where the men servants or porters were 
employed, and reprimanded them m a loud tone for something 
they were doing." (She heard the light step along the pas- 
sage, and yet she does not undertake to say what the men 
were doing, or what the reprimand was about, although the 
most trifling fact seems important enough to put it in the 
story.) " She then opened the door of the refectory, and 
seemed indifferent^ about entering ; but at length seated her- 
self beside me, and began conversation, by saying, ' Well, 
my dear girl, what do you think of going to see your 
friends .'" I said, (with all due caution,) ' what friends, 
Mamere ?' said she, ' You would like to see your friends 
Mrs. G. and Father B., (Mrs. Graham and Father Byrne, 
probably,) and talk with them respecting your call to another 
order. Before I had time to answer, she commanded me to 
take off my garb," (she wore a common female dress, all the 
time, she was in the Convent, and a modest cap on her head,) 
" telling me she was in haste, and that a carriage was waiting to 
convey me to my friends." (Thus from entering with seem- 
ing indifference, I proceeded with indecent haste to urge her 
to a carriage, which was already waiting for her, to carry her 
away. Think of the probabiUties, reader. I am ready to 
trust my reputation on the evident improbabihty of the story 
thus far, which, if true, shows me to be a fool as well as a 
knave.) "I answered, with as cheerful a countenance as I 
could assume, ' O, Mamere, I am sorry to give you so much 

1 "Seamed indiflerent," one of her acknowledged favorite modes of deceit. 



37 

trouble : I had rather see them here first. ' While convers- 
ing, I heard a little bell ring several times. The Superior 
said, ' Well, my dear, make up your mind ; the bell calls me 
to the parlor.' " (Thus rapidly docs my haste cool down, 
leaving her alone to reflect on the subject.) " She soon re- 
turned, and asked if I had made up my mind to go, I an- 
swered, ' No, Mamere.' She then said, 1 had failed in obedi- 
ence to her," [obedience is one of the few rules she adverts 
to and remembers, probably, from the reason of her numerous 
admitted infractions of it,) " and as I had so often talked of 
going to another order with such a person as Mary Francis, I 
had better go immediately ; and again she said, raising her 
voice," (why raising her voice .'') " You have failed in respect 
to your Superior. You must recollect I am a lady of quality, 
brought up in opulence, and accustomed to all the luxuries of 
life." (What my opulence or luxury had to do with her 
obedience. Miss Reed only knows.) " I told her I was very 
sorry to have listened to any thing wrong against her dignity." 
(She does not say that she had, or was charged with having 
listened to anything wrong against my dignity.) " She com- 
manded me to kneel, which I did ; and if tears were ever a 
relief to me, they were then. She stamped on the floor vio- 
lently, and asked, if I was innocent, why I did not go to 
communion. I told her that I felt unworthy to go to com- 
munion at that time." (In a note, she gives as a reason why 
she was unworthy of communion, that her eyes were opened, 
that she had been in error, and found herself too enthusiastic 
in her first views of a Convent life, and that she " was using 
some deception towards the Superior and the Religuese, in 
order to effect an escape." Yet, strange to say, she no where 
says that she asked permission to quit the Convent, but left 
it, as she has other places, clandestinely. But to proceed.) 
" The bell again rung, and she left the room, and in a few 
moments returning, desired me to tell her immediately, what 
I thought of doing, for, as she had promised to protect me 
forever, she must know my mind." (Why I must know her 
mind for that reason, even supposing it to be true, I cannot 



38 

conceive.) " She then mentioned the carriage was still in 
waiting." (It would have helped readers, if she had informed 
them, how long space of time this drama was acting.) " I 
still dechned going, for I was convinced their object was not 
to carry me to Mrs. G. and Priest B. to consult about anoth- 
er order, but directly to Canada. I told her 1 had concluded 
to ask my confessor's advice, and meditate on it some longer. 
She rather emphatically said, ' You can meditate on it if you 
please, and do as you like about going to see your friends.' " 
(Why there should be any cause for emphasis, none but the 
artless Miss R. I fear, can tell. As to the reply that she had 
concluded to ask her confessor's advice, this must be admit- 
ted by her Committee, and by her pastor, to be a ready or 
premeditated lie, as her eyes were then opened to the sins of 
our order, and to the faithlessness of her confessor, p. 162. 
What lies are excusable in their sight, the book does not in- 
form us, nor how far they go to show artlessness of character, 
in her that tells them.) " She said that my sister had been 
there, and did not wish to see me. Our conversation was 
here interrupted by the entrance of a novice. The Superior 
then gave me my choice, either to remain on Ml. Benedict, or 
go to some other order," (that is all she wanted, one would 
suppose, from her having written to Mrs. Mary Francis, after 
leaving the Convent, for this purpose,) " and by next week to 
make up my mind, as it remained icith me to decide.^' 
(Knowing that she was not to remain much longer, and 
dreading the ridicule that would be attached to her for being 
sent from the Convent, she carefully puts forward on every oc- 
casion, that she was to go or stay, as she pleased, and that the 
latter alternative was our most ardent wish.) " She then 
gave me a heavy penance to perform," (probably to induce 
her to stay,) " which was, instead of going to the choir, as 
usual, at the ringing of the bell, to go to the mangle room and 
repeat Jlva JMarias while turning the mangle. While per- 
forming my penance, Sister Martha left the room, and soon 
returning, said she had orders to release me from my pen- 
ance, and to direct me to finish my meditations on the pen- 



39 

ture of a saint, which she gave me. Bui instead of saying 
the prayers that I was bidden, 1 fervently prayed to be deliv- 
ered from their wicked hands." (She was bidden to finish 
her meditations on the picture of a saint, but instead of saving 
the prayers she was bidden, she fervently prayed to bo deliv- 
ered, &c. The connectedness of her thoughts here as else- 
where, shows the reliance to be placed upon her memory.) 

I have gone through these pages with greater care, than the 
same labor would repay upon most of the book, because it 
charges a most wicked crime upon me, that of conspiring to 
send her forcibly away and of restraining her liberty by vio- 
lence. If I conspired to do it, why did I not carry it into ef- 
fect .'' It would seem I had every thing prepared, and nothing 
was wanting but to gel her to the carriage. If I had the wick- 
edness and hardihood to proceed thus far, I might, one would 
have supposed, have proceeded this one step further. Instead 
of doing so however, I gave her the choice, as she says, to re- 
main or go to any other Convent, as she pleased. The con- 
clusion of this most important affair would form a proper 
moral to any tale, where great means are emf)loyed to accom- 
plish no end. The conclusion of her important affair results 
in her having every thing as she wished. 

(Page 170.) " They appeared much pleased with my 
supposed reformation, and I think they believed me sincere." 
How well the artless creature must have performed the hypo- 
crite to have deceived us all, under such "trying circumstan- 
ces !" 

(Page 172.) I will not notice her precious recollections 

recorded on the next pages, but proceed at once to that event- 
ful period, when Miss Reed made her escape. " Some days 
after the conversation which I heard between the Bishop and 
Superior, while behind the altar, I was in the refectory at my 
work," (" Some days after," — is not a very accurate mode 
of fixing a date to so memorable an event. At p. 165 she says, 
they were very desirous that week to know if my feelings 
were changed." At p. 166, she says, " for some days I was 
not well" and on the same page, she relates the story of the 



40 

carriage, as occuring " a few days after," that event ; some 
time must have elapsed, between that time, and when on p. 
170, she says "they appeared pleased with my reformation ;" 
it was after this that " the Bishop visited the Convent on the 
next holy day," all these days occurred after the supposed con- 
versation between the Bishop and the Superior, and before 
her departure. I mention this to show her want of accuracy, 
so important in works of fact, and not of fiction) " and heard 
the noise of the porters who were employed sawing wood, 
and I conjectured the gate might be open for them. (Every 
body knows, that has ever visited the Convent, that the gates 
were always unlocked, and most usually wide open.) " I 
thought it a good opportunity to escape, which I contemplated 
in this manner, viz : to ask permission to leave the room, and 
as I passed the entry, to secrete about my habit a hood which 
hung there, that would help to conceal a part of my ^ar6 from 
particular observation ; then to feign an errand to the infirma- 
rian from the Superior, as I imagined I could escape from the 
door of the infirmary." (Artless creature ! to steal a hood, 
to conceal her garb, — that is, to cover her head, — to feign 
an errand to the infirmarian, and then to run away ! affect- 
ing artlessness of character ! ! ! !) " This plan formed, and 
just as I was going, I heard a band of music, playing as it 
seemed, in front of the Convent." (This does not seem 
probable, as it was in mid-winter, and our residence was re- 
moved from the street, but it might have been so, though 
I recollect no such occurrence.) " I heard the young 
ladies assembling in the parlor, and the porters left their 
work, as I supposed, for the noise of the saws ceased. I 
felt quite revived, and was more confident I should be able 
to escape without detection, even if it should be necessary to 
get over the fence. I feigned an errand, and asked permis- 
sion of Miss Mary Austin to leave the room, which she grant- 
ed. I succeeded in secreting" (stealing is it not ?) " the hood 
and the book in which Miss Mary Francis had left her ad- 
dress, and then knocked at the door three times which led to 
the lay apartments. A person came to the door, who ap- 



41 

peared in great distress." (Here follows a note about a do- 
mestic, who appeared very unhappy. I shall advert to this 
subject presently.)' 

" I asked her where sister Bennett and sister Bernard 
were : she left me to find them. I gave the infirmarian to 
understand that the Superior wished to see her, and I desired 
her to go immediately to her room." Here, reader, let us 
pause a moment. If I had charged any one with telling So 
many falsehoods in a breath, it would have appeared incredible ; 
and yet she states them with apparent triumph. Shame it is 
upon my sex, that such a one can be found to disgrace it. 
But to proceed. " These gone, I unlocked and passed out 
of the back door, and as the gate appeared shut, I climbed 
upon the slats which confined the grape-vines to the fence ; 
but these gave way, and, falling to the ground, I sprained my 
wrist. I then thought I would try the gate, which I found 
unfastened, and as there was no one near it" (neither dogs or 
men), " I ran through, and hurried to the next house. In get- 
ting over the fences, between the Convent and this house, I 
fell, and hurt myself badly." Miss Reed affords by this ac- 
count another proof that her imagination is her worst enemy. 
Nothing turns out so badly as she imagines. She imagines a 
carriage to come for her to carry her into Canada, yet she 
was not carried there : she imagined our gates to be locked, 
yet they were not : she imagined the premises to be guarded 
by dogs and men, and yet she saw none : she runs away, 
merely because she chose to run — walking would have an- 
swered the purpose equally as well. A striking instance is 
here afforded of her disposition to avoid a straight-forward 
course, if possible. She goes into the garden — the gate lead- 
ing out of it appeared shut : she did not examine, to see, but 
takes tlie unnecessary labor of climbing the grapery, in order 
to make her escape marvellous ; but finding she could not get 
over the fence, she was compelled to go out in the unromantic 



1 This case is particularly mentioned in the prcfntciry remarlcR, and will be publicly au- 
tfaenticated in a collection of teBtimony now in preparation. 



42 

way she mentioned — by the gate. She found, after leaving 
our premises, other fences to clamber over (rail-fences, we 
presume), and contrived to make up the perils of her wander- 
ings there. Our Community and the children of the school, 
on the night of the destruction of our property, passed over the 
same ground without sprains or bruises. 

At page 173, Miss Reed speaks of a person who came to 
the door, appearing to be in great distress, and, in the note, 
she says — "This was Sarah S., a domestic, who appeared 
very unhappy while I was in the Convent. I often saw her 
in tears, and learned from the Superior that she was sighing 
for the veil. When I saw my brother, I informed him of 
this circumstance, and he soon found who she was, and as- 
certained that some ladies in Cambridge had been to see the 
Superior, who used to them pretty much the same language 
she did to my sister. I have since seen her. She is still 
under the influence of the Roman Church " (that is to say, 
she will flatly contradict Miss Reed), "but assures me that 
she did not refuse to see the ladies, as the Superior had repre- 
sented to them, and she wept because of ill health, &-c." 

As this story, as well as many others told so flippantly, — 
artlessly, the Committee would say, — will be disproved in a 
more extended form, and placed in an unequivocal light before 
the public in a short time, I will merely state that the domes- 
tic above alluded to formerly lived with highly respectable 
Protestant ladies in Cambridge, and came from them to live 
with us in the capacity of domestic, and left us, as other do- 
mestics always have, honorably. Soon after Miss Reed left 
the Convent, she called upon one of these ladies, and in- 
formed her that she came to tell her that Sarah S. was at the 
Convent, and was treated very ill, and could not get away. 
The lady, from causes already mentioned,' did not put 
much credit in the statements of Miss Reed. Some time 
after, Sarah S. called upon the lady, who told her what Miss 
Reed had said. She replied that it was wholly untrue — that 

1 i^eu rrrliiniiiitnj lirmirrK^. 



43 

she liked the place very well, but that she got tired of its 
sameness and seclusion, and concluded to come away ; and 
having given notice to the Superior of the fact, she settled with 
her and left. 

I have now done with Miss Reed for the present ; but 
this hasty denial of her falsehoods will not conclude the ex- 
posure of her character and conduct. I shall proceed in the 
investigation of the subject, and the results shall, from time to 
time, be made known to the public. For one as young as 
she is, she has accomplished much, and the witnesses of her 
doings are not few. Nor will it be Catholic testimony or in- 
fluence alone that is to place her and her advisers in their true 
light. The cause of truth will raise me advocates and testimo- 
nials, and those who would have shrunk from coming forward, 
a few days ago, to tell what they know of Miss Reed, will now 
be impelled to do so, from the highest and purest motives. 

I am aware that Miss Reed has a host of friends and be- 
lievers, who will rally around her, and endeavor to support 
her. Having been deceived thus far, they will feel ashamed 
to be convinced of their folly and blindness. But there are 
many, who have read her book with honest intentions, without 
carefully examining its statements, and who honestly believe it 
to be true, whose minds are nevertheless open to a conviction 
of its falsity. To such our remarks are directed, and to them 
we confidently submit this Answer. 

Sr. MARY EDMOND ST. GEORGE. 

We, the undersigned, do hereby declare our assent to and 
belief in the statements of the Lady Superior, as above made, 
so far as our personal knowledge extends to the facts stated. 

Sr. MARY JOHN IGNATIUS, 
Sr. MARY BENEDICT JOSEPH. 



APPENDIX. 



The following testimony is offered to the perusal of the candid 
reader, with the belief that, as it comes from Protestants, 
it may be believed. 

The letters that follow are printed from Mr. Fay's .Argument before the 
Legislative Committee, and were never seen by the members of the Ursuline 
Community, until they appeared in print. 

In compliance with a request from the Committee of Investigation of citi- 
zens of Boston, and as a tribute to truth and justice, I certify, tliat, for two 
years and a half prior to the destruction of the Convent in Charlestown in 
August last, I had under my charge a young lady from the South, who was 
prosecuting her education at that seminary. From all that I observed in 
frequent visits, and learnt in conversation with my ward, 1 fully believe, that 
the highly-respectable Superior and Sisters of the Ursuline Community ex- 
celled m attention to the health and manners of the pupils, were uniformly 
kind, and unceasingly devoted to their moral and intellectual improvement, 
and inculcated upon their minds, both by precept and example, tlie virtues 
which are peculiar ornaments of the female character. 

No reserve or secrecy were ever enjoined or expected from the pupils; nor 
had I ever the least suspicion, that the Ladies of the Community had any 
thing which they could wish to conceal. 

Among the pupils were children of both Protestant and Catholic parents. 
But I never had the least reason to suspect, that any effort was ever made 
to seduce the Protestant children from their faith. On the contrary, I have 
understood and fully believe, that the Superior and Sisters inculcated upon 
that portion of the scholars those principles only which are held in common 
by all Christians, and that they particularly discouraged the Catholic chil- 
dren from conversing on their pecuUar religious tenets with their Protestant 
schoolmates. 

What recommended the Seminary to me, in addition to the character of 
the instructers, were, its retirement, so favorable to study, the spacious ac- 
commodations of the interior and grounds, which permitted the young ladies 
to prosecute the ornamental as well as the elementary and essential parts 
of education, and the vigilant eye which was constantly kept over the chil- 
dren, both in school and during the hours of relaxation from study. 

The intolerant and lawless spirit which marked the destruction of that 
building, the ferocious attack at midnight upon its occupants, resting for 
protection only on Heaven and their innocence, and the vile slanders which 
have since been circulated respecting this n-ligious family, are equally un- 
worthy of our age and country, and hostile to the spirit of our civil and reli- 
S'ous institutions. One class of Christians is, with us, as much entitled to 
e protection of the law as any other; and, happily, no one may claim the 



46 

pre-eminence. There is need, too, I consider, of tiie united efforts of the 
sincere and virtuous of all denominations, to promote the common cause of 
religion, ffood manners, and tlie reign of the law. 

PETER O. THACHER. 
Boston, September 1, 1834. 

NoMERous reports having been circulated in the community respecting the 
Convent at Charlestown, ialculated to create prejudices against that institu- 
tion, and injurious to the characters of the ladies who composed it, the sub- 
scribers, parents and guardians of children who have heretofore been placed 
there for instruction, impelled by a sense of justice to those ladies, as well 
as gratitude lo them for their unwearied labors and cares for the education 
and happiness of the pupils under tlieir charge, do hereby solemnly declare 
our entire disbelief of any and all the stories affecting the humane, religious 
and moral character of the nuns belonging to the Ursuline Convent — which 
stories, industriously circulated and eagerly believed by certain portions of 
the people, were used beforehand to effect the destruction of that establish- 
ment, by a lawless and brutal mob, and since to justify or palliate the shame- 
ful act : — many of these calumnies we believe to be merely the suggestions of 
base or prejudiced minds, without the shadow of foundation in fact ; — some 
have originated in ignorance, religious bigotry or fanaticism, and others in 
the fabrications of a certain female, who had received only benefits at the 
hands of the Ursulines. 

If she be not insane, which is the most charitable supposition, her ingrati- 
tude and lies exhibit a depravity of heart which has rarely been paralleled. 
Our interest and our duty has required of us to ascertain the truth of these 
reports. It was important to us not to deceive ourselves, or to be deceived 
by others, in a matter where the character and happiness of our children 
were concerned ; and we have perfectly satisfied ourselves, that the Ursu- 
line Community at Charlestown, was, what it professed to be, a religious and 
virtuous community, who had abandoned the vanities of the world, and de- 
voted themselves to the service of God and their fellow creatures, and that 
their lives were pure and holy. We have visited the Convent frequently, 
and have seen the inmates with all necessary freedom — we had heard the 
accounts of what passed there from the children, and nothing has transpired 
but what has served to create feelings of esteem, respect and kindness to- 
wards the Institution and its members. No proselyte was ever made of a 
Protestant pupil, as far as we know, and we have never heard of any attempt 
to influence the peculiar religious tenets in which the pupils had been brought 
up. Those great truths of religion, which are common to most Christian 
sects, and those principles of pure and exalted virtue, which are approved 
by all, were inculcated by example as well as by precept. The school was, 
in our opinion, of the first order of excellence, and the terms were so mod- 
erate, as to bring it within the means of persons of the middling classes, and 
to show that profit was not the leading purpose of the establishment. That 
Buch a community should have had their rights of habitation, of person and 
property, violated in the manner they were, is not only an injury to the 
public, but affords melancholy evidence of the. ignorance, intolerance and 
depravity of the people among whom it could take place, and that the laws 
of the land do not afford that security to the rights of individuals which we 
had hitherto supposed. 

If our testimony shall have any effect towards enlightening the public, by 
exciting inquiry among those who honestly seek the truth, justice may be ulti- 
mately done to the character of the much-injured Ursulines, and the object of 
this communication will be attained. 

SAMUEL P. P. FAY, 
LEVI THAXTER, 
WILLIAM COTTING, 
I. PETERS, 
September 5, 1834. S. K. WILLIAMS. 



To Richard S. Fay, Esq. 



47 

Milton Hill, September 4, 1884. 



Sir : — In compliance with the wishes of tlie Invcstigatingr Committee of 
Boston, to hear the sentiments of the parents and guardians of the children 
who were placed at the Ursuline Community, upon its merits as a school and 
as the abode of quiet, unostentatious virtue; and to know whether sectarian 
doctrines have been taught to the children, and whether they ever heard or 
saw any cruelty or unkindncss inflicted upon the children, or by the Ursulines 
upon each otiior ; I reply, that I was entirely satisfied with the school, and 
believe it to have been administered kindly, morally, and intelligently. For 
more than a year previous to placing my children at the Institution, I 
examined anxiously every source of information respecting it. I learned 
from all the persons whom I had an opportunity to consult, whose children 
or friends had been placed there, that there was every cause of perfect 
confidence in that Community. I have known, from various parts of the 
country, former pupils, who have spoken of it with affection and respect — 
and I have, from my own observation, been perfectly satisfied that the pupils 
received the utmost care from the conscientious solicitude of the Com- 
munity. I believe that their retired and regular habits of study form, in the 
pupils, a pure and solid character. I have understood that no attempt was 
made to influence their religious tenets : the children were permitted to 
attend worship in the chapel, or to decline it, if the parents wished. I have 
never known any punishments but loss of rank in the classes, or admonition. 
I have been satisfied that the discipline was mild and parental ; and from the 
testimony of the pupils, the Ladies of the Community live in perfect union 
and harmony. From all that I have seen, and weighing all that I have heard, 
it would be my earnest wish that my children might be educated by them. 

I may be exceeding the wishes of the Committee, to express any fur- 
ther comments upon the late outrage upon the Ursulines. I had but one 
child present at the firing of the Convent : my two elder children were 
absent with me on a distant journey : had they been present, the shock upon 
the delicate temperament of one ol them, might have been fatal. The self- 
devoted intelligence of the Lady who presides over the Institution, during 
that frightful night, deserves from every mother the deepest gratitude and 
respect. It is this rare merit which has so eminently qualified her for the 
responsible station she holds there. 

We do not belong to the Catholic Church. 

With respect, your obedient servant, 

LYDIA SMITH RUSSx^LL. 



Bostov., Sept. 3, \SM. 

Dear Sir: — Your favor of Monday, respecting the Ursuline Community, 
came to hand last evening. 

I consider the Institution a very good one, and a first-rate school, where 
the pupils are taught every t.hing consistent with a good mo^al education. 

Sectarian doctrines are not introduced in any degree : every thing about 
the Institution is conducted (to all appearance) with the most perfect order 
and harmony. 

In haste, yours, &c. 

To R. S. Fay, Esq. S. WILLIS. 

P. S. I am not, nor liave ever been, a Catholic. 



48 



Boston, Sept. 4, 1834. 



R. S. Fay, Esft. 

Dear Sir : — Yours of the first inst. is at hand. In reply to your reqtiest 
for an expression of my sentiments in regard to the character of the 
Ursuline Community at Cliarlestown, I would observe, that, at the time the 
buildings occupied by that Community were so wantonly destroyed, I had 
two daughters there attending the school, their ages eleven and thirteen 
years ; — for six months previous to sending my children to the school, I took 
every opportunity of gaining information ref pecting it ; and so uniform were 
the statements in its favor, I determined and accordingly did put them there 
on the yOth of last May. My children inform me that they were very kindly 
treated by the Ursulines, and they have no doubt or reason to believe that 
any of tlie other children under their charge experienced different treatment. 
The instructors never attempted to introduce or instil their own views of 
religion into the minds of the scholars. 

On the Sabbath, tlie Protestant children, embracing much the largest 
portion of the school, usually were assembled together to Protestant prayers, 
read to them by some one of the older scholars, and a portion of Scriptures 
committed to memory. No secrecy was ever enjoined on them. 

Yours, very respectfully, 

HALL J. HOW. 

P. S. I would inform you that I am not a Catholic. 



Boston, Sept. 3, 1834. 
R. S. Fay, Esq,. 

Dear Sir: — Yours of the 1st is before me. Mrs. Houghton had two 
sisters at the Convent at the time of the riot. Thej' had been under the 
care of the Institution about seven or eight numths. 

Their improvement gave us perfect satisfaction. Considering the safety 
of the pupils, their freedom from temptations of every kind, the purity of 
morals taught, with the great devotion of the nuns to the general welfare of 
the scholars, induced us to esteem it as one of the best institutions in this 
community. 

No attempt was made to impress the minds of our sisters with the peculiar 
religion of the Convent ; and the young ladies inform us that they never 
knew an insjtance of the nuns attempting to influence the minds of pupils 
upon doctrinal points, or in any way interfering with their previous religious 
sentiments. 

All the young ladies we have conversed with, agree in stating tliat they 
never saw or heard of any thing like severe punishment, much less cruelty, 
inflicted on any of the scholars ; and they further state, that they never 
saw any thing but the most friendly and affectionate intercourse between 
the nuns. 

I am not a Catholic. 

Your ob't serv't, 

N. HOUGHTON. 



Boston, Sept. 4, 1834. 

Dear Sir : — It is with pleasure that I comply with the request of the Com- 
mittee of Investigation, appointed by the citizens of Boston, in expressing my 
sentiments in regard to the school of the Ursuline Community. My eldest 
daughter attended that seminary about two and a half years, prior to the burn- 
ing of the Convent. The teachers have been uniformly kind and unceasingly 



49 

devoted to the moral and intellectual improvement, and are not excelled in 
their attention to flie health, temper:;, and manners of the children. No secta- 
rian doctrines are tauglit to the ciiildren, and my daiiglitor informs me that i-he 
never saw any unUindness or cruelty inflicted upon tin- children, orliy the I'rsu- 
line.s upon each other ; on the contrary, it is strictly the quiet abode of unostenta- 
tious viitue. If there is purity in any human beings, 1 believe it to be found in 
these excellent women, the teachers of this school, the sisters of the oider of 
St. I'rsuline. .Afy child was taken ill at the Convent, last summer, with the 
scarlet fever, and during that dangerous illness, she was nursed with unwea- 
ried care and kindness, which few can receive even at the hand of a mother. 
The goodess of all to her, and particularly sister Mary Clnir, in whose imme- 
diate charge she was during her sickness, will always be remembered with 
feelings of deep gratitude, and a sense of ol>lig:ition which can never be repaid. 
While my child was sick, .Mrs. Bullard visited the Convent daily, and had free 
access to her, and to any part of the Convent, several rooms of which she did 
visit, and this by particular invitation of the Lady Superior. With the excep- 
tion of this siclviiess, my child has uniformly enjoyed good health. I thiidi it 
decidedly the best institution in this country for the education of fen. ale youth. 

Respectfully, j-ours, £cc. 

SILAS BULLARD. 
N. B. I am not a Catholic. 

S. B. 



Richard S. Fay, Esq. 

Dear Sir : — I have delayed answering j-our note of the first instant, in 
order to give my family an opportunity to express their opinions of the Ursu- 
line Institution and its merits, and as they are herewith enclosed, 1 shall make 
no conmients. If you wish my own opinion, I can only say that, until I was 
acquainted with the school, I had the same prejudices against it that seems too 
generally to prevail now ; but since I have placed my two daughters there, I 
have had occasion to visit the Institution frequently ; and n)y wife has visited it 
more often than myself, and we have always returned from it with the highest 
opinion of its merits as a school for the education of young ladies, as they 
seemed so amiable and happy and perfectly contented. Until the Saturday 
previous to the riot, my wife visited the school, and my eldest daughter ex- 
pressed fears to remain, and wanted to return home, on account of the reports, 
that the buildings were to be destroyed ; her fears were quieted, as being with- 
out a cause, and on Monday night it proved too true. I have always found it 
to all appearance, a place of unimpeachable virtue, and have never heard of 
any questions asked respecting religious tests, and I am fully pursuaded that 
they use no such influence in the school, whatever their peculiar mode of wor- 
ship may be among themselves. .As to cruelty to the pupils or teachers, I 
have never heard any thing ; and if people knew the ti'achers, they would not 
harbor such a thouglit. I sent my children to this school because I had heard 
of its merits, and 1 have not been disappointed. My daughters have made 
great improvement, and are now an.xiows to return to school. I am not a Cath- 
olic, nor do I expect to be. I sent my children because I thought and still 
think it stood among the first schools in the country, and the country will suf- 
fer by its loss. 

THO.MAS WIIITMARSH. 

Wednesiay Evening, Sept. ^d, 1834. 

N. B. I hope the same opportunity has been given to express their views, 
to those who have circulated unfavorable reports, in order that the facts may 
be fidlv made known, 

T. W. 

7 



50 



Chadcstown, Sept. 3, 1834. 



Dear Sir : — Your favor of Septembar 1st has been duly received, and 
agreeably to your request I feel it both a duty and a pleasure to communicate 
any thing that I may know as a parent, in relatio)i to the Ursuline Community. 
I shall simply state such facts as are known to uie as truths, unbiassed by 
prejudice and unawed Ijy fear. I know that rumor with its thousand tongues 
has been spreading its deadly poison, and that the ignorant and unprincipled, 
influenced by rev(?nge and jealousy, have aimed a fatal blow at the religious 

sisters of the Ursuline Community. In the winter of 1823, after Mrs. 

had given up her school, where I had my daughter placed, I was desirous of 
procuring another in a retired, healthy situation, where she would constantly 
have the precepts and exanjples of viituous, well-educated ladies. After ex- 
amining many of the plans in our first seuiinaries for the education of young 
ladies, I could not find one more congenial to my views, or, as I then thought 
and now think, better calculated for the moral and intellectual improvement of 
my daughter, than the Convent. Early in the spring of 1828, 1 accordingly 
placed her at the school, under the care of the Lady kSuperior and the sisters of 
the Community, for the purpose of having her instructed in all the useful and 
ornamental branches of female education. She remained at this school three 
years and a half. During that time she could have left at any moment, by 
giving proper notice, for any other school she might have preferred. I always 
had free access as a visitor during her residence at the Convent. I never saw 
any thing but the most perfect harmony among the sisters as well as the pu- 
pils ; every thing wore the appearance of neatness, regularity and order. I 
never saw any thing that looked like unkindness or cruelty ; but, on the other 
hand, the pupils always appeared to be treated with the utmost tenderness and 
afl'ection ; the ladies always endeavoring to do away every thing that looked 
like envy or jealousy in the school, by cultivating the most benevolent feelings 
of love and charity, with a view of teaching them their duty to God and each 
other. 

I am not a Catholic, nor do I wish to have my daughter instructed in the 
Catholic religion. This 1 freely stated to the Superior when my daughter first 
entered the Convent. She fully assured me that her mind should be left per- 
fectly free as to her religious opinions, and I do most sincerely believe that in 
ntj one instance she was ever influenced by the Superior to become a proselyte 
to the Catholic religion. It has been an established rule to have young ladies 
attend the services of the Catholic Church in the chapel. For a time, my 
daughter, as well as other young ladies living in Charlestown, had the privi- 
lege of coming home to spend the Sabbath ; but this I did not think expedient, 
for this arrangement must directly or indirectly interfere with the devotions of 
the religious sisters, when a part of the scholars were to be prepared to leave 
and a part to remain in the Convent. I think myself it is far better for the young 
ladies to remain in the once quiet and peaceable walls of the Convent and read 
their Bibles, and hear such religious instructions as was within their reach, than 
to be walking the streets or visiting their friends. I cannot close this epistle, 
in justice to the Lady Superior and the sisters, without mentioning with grati- 
tude their many acts of kindness to my daughter. During her residence at the 
Convent, she had a most severe illness, where she received every attention 
that the most devoted friends could bestow, by night as well as by day, from 
the sisters. I have endeavored to give my views of the Ursuline Connnunity, 
so far as I have been connected with its inmates, and I hope that justice will 
be done them for the cruel wrongs they have suH'cred. 

1 remain, with due respect, yours, &c. 

C. BALDWIN. 



51 

Wakrlown, September 4, 1884. 
Dear Sin : — I received yoiir letter of the Ist in«t. last eveiiiin;, and now 
cheerfully give you such inforaiatioii :is I possess relative to the late I'rsulino 
Coiii:uunity, at Charlestown. About four years since, having a daughter then 
about 12 years of age, whom I wished to place at some retipectiible school, I 
was induced from hearing this institution spolven of in high leiins of commend- 
ation, to place my child under the care of the superior. She entered the Con- 
veat in rebriiary, 1831, and continued there until .April, 1832. On the 1st 
December last, s!ie again rcturised to the Convent, accompanied by a younger 
sister, tlien about 12 yeans of age, and both were in the Convent, when the 
recent unparalleled and barbarous outrage was committed, from whence they 
providentially cscapod with their lives, loosing all tluiir etlects, save a few 
clothes caught up on the instant, to cover their persons. During those peri- 
ods, the ^jroficicacy of my children in their various studies and pursuits were 
quite satisfactory. I believe thoy'^vere ever treated with the greiUest kindness 
and attention, having all their wants .strictly attended to, and especially in sick- 
ness, watched over and attended with the most delicate teirdeniess and synipa- 
thy. They have ever appeared strongly attached to the Superior, and the 
other ladies who gave them instruction, and attended to their behavior. They 
have never complained of any severity, or unreasonable restraints, and they 
assured me that they never witnessed any thing but kindness from any individ- 
ual of the Community towards any of the scholars ; and that among the Sis- 
terhood there always appeared to exist the most perfect harmony and aflec- 
tion. I am satisfied that not the slightest attempt has ever been made to instil 
into their minds any principles peculiar to the Catholic religion — on the con- 
trary, I believe that every thing was scrupulously avoided th;it might have any 
tendency to attract their attention to it. They informed me that the Superior 
always restrained the Catholic cinldien, even from conversing with the others 
on the subject of their religion. The strictest attention lias alwavs been paid 
to the moral conduct of the children, every e.xertion made to cultivate habits of 
industry, and to instil into their minds the charms o(trvlh, and the beauty and 
importance of a virtuous life. I visited my children while at the Convent, as 
often as once in two weeks, and witnessed their hilarity and cheerfulness in 
their hours of recreation, have often seen them abroad, upon the grounds of 
the Convent, in company with their teachers, and noticed with pleasure the 
familiar and atleclionale intimacy that :ip])eared to subsist between them. I 
have frequently seen and conversed with the Superior and several of the other 
ladies of the Institution, and have always admired the simplicity and elegance 
of their deportment, modest demeanor, affable and unassuming manners, and 
sure I am that every one will admit, who has the pleasure of their acquaint- 
ance, that thev are ladies of the first education, superior intelligence and highly 
cultivated minds. It may be thought that I possess strong prepossessions in fa- 
vor of this instUution. If 1 do, they are indjibed from observation, a belief in 
the superiority and purity of its character, aiid the advantages and kindnesses 
v%-hich my children have received from it.^ inmates. I think however that I shall 
hazard nothing in the assertion, that no parent who wishes his daughters to be 
instructed in the various branches of use-ful and ornamental education, can 
place them from their homes, in any situation with more perfect assurance that 
they will meet with affectionate and kind treatment, and reieive every attention 
conducive to their improvement, happiness, health and nmrals, than at this In- 
stitution. I entertain no sentiments peculiarly favorai)Ie to the Catholics or 
their religion, and those who know me, I am sure, will not be very ready to 
believe that I ever shall. 

Respectfully, vour obedient servant, 

■ ■ Li:VI TH.AXTER. 

Richard S. Fay, F,sq. 
P. S. I requested my eldest daughter to give mc her sentimenU of llie 



52 

Convent and its inmates in her own language upon paper, which she lias done 
I have thought proper to enclose it, which you are at liberty to use, if it will 
answer any good purpose, as you may think expedient. 



Boston, S^t. 5, 1834. 

Dear Sir : — In compliance with your request, I would inform you that 
in April of 1833, after due inquiry I became satisfied of the merits of the Ur- 
Buline School, and of its freedom from sectarian influences, and accordingly 
placed my daughter there, and during an intimate acquaintance with the Insti- 
tution since that time, have never had occasion to change my opinion of its 
character. 

Myself and family have visited the school freely, whenever we thought 
proper, and have always found tlie intercoiuse subsisting between the pupils 
and their teachers, such as could only have proceeded from uniformly kind 
and tender treatment, and I believe no domestic circle was ever more happy or 
more united in the bonds of love. 

The instructresses have always inculcated, both by precept and example, 
the cultivation of kind and obliging dispositions, a strict regard for truth, and a 
high respect for the simple principles of the Christian Religion, with an un- 
ceasing zeal which gave the strongest proof their own habitual and unostenta- 
tious virtue. 

As I am not a Catholic, my connexion with the school was begun and con- 
tinued only from the belief that it possessed, on many accounts, superior ad- 
vantages over any other similar institution with which I have ever been ac- 
quainted. Yours, &c. 

JAMES PAGE. 



It is due to the much abused Ursulines to say that the above testimonials 
are a few only of the many received, all speaking the same language and writ- 
ten in the same spirit. 



The following letter originally appeared in the Bunker-Hill Aurora : 

Ursuline Community. Died on the 18th instant, at the residence of 
the Ursuline Community, Brinley place, Roxbury, Mrs. St. Henry, aged 20 
years and 6 months. This beautiful girl was sick at Mount Benedict when the 
Convent was burned, and suffered a dreadful shock in the horrors of that aw- 
ful night, from which she never recovered. On the following morning, she 
was removed to the house of the Sisters of Charity, in Boston, where she lin- 
gered till the 11th inst. when she was removed to the place where she died. 
At this time she was so low that she could not stand alone, and it seemed 
hardly possiby to remove her ; but she could not bear to be separated from 
the beloved ladies of the Community, and they literally took her and carried 
her over like an infant in their arms. She was pleased with their new situa- 
tion, and enioyed the scenery very much. The afternoon before she died, her 
bed was turned round, so tbat she could see Mount Benedict from her win- 
dow. She viewed it a long time, and seemed much consoled with the fact 
that Mount Benedict could be so distinctly seen from Brinley place. During 
the course of her illness, so far from manifesting any ill-will against the ruffi- 
ans who, by demolishing the Convent, had been accessory to her death, she 
often expressed pity for them, and prayed that they might be forgiven. On 
the night of the 17th, she slept sweetly, and on the 18th departed from this to 
a bettor world. She expired without a struggle, having no agony at all. 



53 

The de;iih of this lady has revived the sad scene of lliat ineinoruble nighf, 
when, doubtless sht?- received lier death blow. It is true, she was in a coimnnip' 
tion, but it is also true that- on the day preceding that night, slie was alile to 
give instruction to a music class, and was so very ■comlbrtahie tluit I felt war- 
ranted in giving an opinion to the Superior, that she would continue throuuh 
the winter. It is now my full conviction that the shock of that ni>;ht hurried 
this innocent \oung creature to an untinuly grave ; a creature who, 1 firmly 
believe, never liarnied nor thought harm to any living thing, and whose last 
breath was spent in prating for the deluded wretches who had frighted away 
her gentle spirit before its time. This all'ecting event has called up my atten- 
tion afresh to a train of reflections, wliich have been passing in my mind ever 
since the Convent was burnt, and seems to offer me a fit occasion to present 
these reflections to the public. 1 thought to do this before, but do not regret 
the delay for several reasons: first, because at the time the Convent was burnt 
the public mind was so grossly abused and so strongly excited by strange re- 
ports, that a plain statement, such as I should make, would not be so likely to 
be regarded then as it may now, when prejudice, ignorance, misrepresentation, 
and fanaticism are happily giving place to a spirit of rational investigation of 
farts ; and, secondly, 1 conl'ess that my own mind, which was greatly dis- 
turbed, has now become so much more calm, that I am better fittrd to ofler 
my reflections to my fellow-citizens now than I was immediately after the hor- 
rible outrage was coininittcd ; and lastly, as the Ursuline comminunity is now 
removed beyond the immediate circle of my profession, I may iiope to be 
heard as a disinterested witness in behalf of that much injm-ed Conm. unity. 

In the beginning of the year 1828, I was anxiously loolving round for a 
school for one of my daughters, who was then about 13 years of age. Hap- 
pening to take up a newspaper, the Prospectus of the t'rsuline ( omrnunity 
met my eye, and after full inquiry I was satisfied, and placed my daughter at 
the Convent School, where she remained till she completed her acaden.ic edu- 
cation entirety to the satisfaction of my whole family. During the time of my 
daughter's schooling, by the kindness of the Superior, I ohtanied a special 
privilege of placing one of my nieces, (whose age, then 17, was beyond the reg- 
ular rule of admission) in t!ie Convent, where she remained about 15 months, 
with the greatest possible advant:'ge to her education, manners, and character. 
My youngest daughter entered the Convent when her sister came out, but after 
a short time her health (always precarious from her infancy) became so poor, 
that I took her from the Convent ; and for 6 months succeeding she di(* not 
attend any school, and lias never since been able to pursue her studies regularly. 
From the 1st of April, 1828, till the 10th of July, 1829, I had nothing to do 
with the Convent, only as a school. A medical gentleman from Boston being 
the attending physician. As many of my friends blamed me for ])utting my 
daughter and niece to the Convent School, and as constant inquiries were 
n)ade of me about that school, I was very particular indeed to inquire of my 
child and niece, especially the latter, wtio was older than her cousin, and a 
very intelligent, shrewd, and above all as honest-hearted a girl as ever lived ; 
I inquired, I say, of them respecting every thing that was going on at the Con- 
vent ; iind from the information they gave me, and from such other sources of 
information as were within my reach, I was perfectly satisfied that the Convent 
School was and continued to be, to the very day their school-house was burned 
down, a most excellent school. I believe the ladies who had charge of it 
were not only exceedingly well qualified to teach, and eminently faithfid and 
snccessful in teaching the various branches of education which they professed, 
but I also firmly believe that they arc ladies of irreproachable character and 
reputation — I know they are Indies of elegant accomplishments and soft and 
gentle manners, and I believe they were ever kind to their pupils, and very 
watchful over their health, morals and nnmners. 

I have always considered this school as invaluable to most of the j'oung fe- 
males who were placed in it — many of them are the childreu of wealthy and 



54 

fashionable famiiies — exposed at home to all the dazzling influences of iiigli 
life, of brilliant scenery, of the noise and bustle of perpetual company, of irreg- 
ular hours, and often of excessive indulgence in rich food and dress. To take 
such children away from situations so unfavorable to the cultivation of the mind 
and the health of the body, an.l to place them in a beatiful and healthy re- 
treat, and in a school established on a system of simple diet, regular hours of 
study, food, recreation and rest, and neat and strict uniformity of dress — un- 
der the example and tuition of ladies of high education — of elegant manners — 
of soft voices and pure conversation — ladies entirely separated from the world, 
and wholly devoted to their God and their pupils — is inileed a blessing to such 
children, which may be imagined, but cannot be described. Almost all the 
children who attended the Convent School were cliildren of Protestant parents — 
of course, in their studies, in their conversations, in thsir recreations, in their 
social associations, in every thing indeed, but the forms of daily devotion, 
which occupied no more of their time in this, than is usually devoted lo the 
same service under different forms, in other well regulated Protestant schools ; 
for every valuable purpose of education — this was in reality a Protestant 
school. The teachers, it is true, were Catholics in their religion, but not 
teachers of the Catholic religion to their pupils. This distinction ought to be 
clearly understood, and the fact ought to be known, for it is solemnly true, that 
the teachers of the Ursuline School did not attempt to insiil the peculiar tenets 
of their faith into the minds of their scholars — the pretence that they did so, 
stands, up to this hour, wholly unsupported by the slightest shadow of proof. 
Whether it be right for Protestants to support a seminary for education set up 
by Catholics, is a question on which good men may, and do ditier widely and 
honestly. But when the Catholics, who have an undoubted right to do so, 
have set up such a seminary, then whether it be right to represent them truly, 
or to misrepresent them shamefully, is no sort of a question at all with good 
men, for every good man will acknowledge at once, thnt a Catholic seminary 
is as much entitled to legal protection, and to fair and just representation as 
any other. 

Those parents who sent their childrent to Mt. Benedict School, sent them 
there, not because it was set up by Catholics, but because in their opinion it 
was the best school they could send them to. I am sure this was the reason 
which decided my mind. Nor is this the only instance with me. Several 
years ago, I sent one of my sons to be fitted for college to a celebrated acade- 
my, when I knew that the principal of that academy (according to my views 
of such m:itters) was one of the greatest religious bigots on earth, but I 
knew also that he was a capital classical scholar, and I considered him 
better quilified to teach my son than any other man I knew of, so I sent 
him to be prepared for college, not expecting that any particular sectarian 
influence would be used with him. In this matter, however, I think very 
differently of the course which was pursued at the academy, with my son, 
and at the Convent with my daughter. It is said, that the teachers of the 
Ursuline School are religious devotees. They are so. And it is my solemn 
conviction, that these pious females live habitually in the fear of God, serving 
him devoutly, and in sincerity and truth, according to the forms and ceremo- 
nies of their religious education ; and while the enligetened Protestant Christian 
may pity what he believes to be the errors of their faith, he cannot but respect 
and admire that sublimated piety, which lends its young and beautiful votaries 
to a voluntary maityrdom of the world. Would it not be well, too, for those 
who have not been religiously educated in any form, whose minds have not 
yet been instructed into the sublime truths, and whose hearts have not yet 
felt the heavenly influences of Christian love — charity, forbearance, broth- 
erly kindness and forgiveness — would it not be well for such to pause, and 
consider how far they are qualified to sit in judgment on the motives, feelings, 
and actions of those whose whole course of education, thoughts and habits have 
been so entirely different from their own. While it is readily granted, that the 



65 

teachers of the Ursuliiie School, are, in a devotional sense, religious devotees, 
it is contended that they arc not exclusively so — they arc devotees also to the 
cause of feinule education. To theni, their school is, next to their God, and it 
is all beside. Thorouglily educated teachers — exclusively devoled for life to 
the Ursuline school — is the true secret of its superiority. 

Such are my opinions, views, and feelings, in reference to the institution at 
Mt. Henedict, which, (as I have already stated,) I knew only as a school from 
the time it was opened in April 1828, till July lOth, 1829, at which time I was 
called as a Physician, and have been continued as such, ever since. During a 
period of more than five years, which has elapsed since I visited the Convent 
as a Physician, there has been a good deal of sickness there, and I have been 
there very often, and of course have had a good opportunity to become inti- 
mately acquainted with each individual member of the community ; and it is 
not too much for me to say, that I do know what has been passing within the 
wails of the Convent, belter than those who were never inside of it ; and I do 
now solemnly declare, in the presence of the whole world, that according to my 
sincere belief, the fenuiles who composed the Ursuiine Community, are ladies 
of pure characters and blameless lives, and that in their dill'ercnt places and 
stations, they have severally been well (jualified for thtir respective duties, and 
have performed those duties kindly, conscientiously, and faithfully, to their 
pupils and to each other. The Superior — thoroughly educated, dignified in 
her person, and elegant in her manners, pure in her morals, of generous and 
magnanimous feelings, and of high religious principles — is in truth a most 
wort!iy lady, who richly merits her title and her station. 

I have been induced to submit the foregoing statement to the public, under 
a strong sence of justice to a Community of good and useful females, whose 
motives and conduct appear to nie, to be strangely misunderstood, and most 
cruelly misrepresented, and who have been driven away from their peaceful 
retreat, by the greatest outrage which stains the history of civilized society. 

ABRAHAM R. THOMPSON. 

Charlestown, Oct. 25, 1834. 



77ic annexed affidavit of Dr. Tliompson proves tiro facta, both of which di- 
rectly disprove two important assertions of the Committee of Publication of 
Miss Reed's book. 

Charlestown, April \st, 1835. 

I have this day received a note, requesting me, as Physician of the Ursuiine 
Community, to give an opinion on some of the statements respecting the Con- 
vent in Miss Reed's book. Not having read the book, I immediately procured 
a copy it, and having run it over, I find some things in it, which in justice to 
the L'rsuline Community, I feel bound to notice. In the introduction, page 42, 
I find the following ()aragraph : 

" 'I'his then is the whole amount of the dwelling being accessible at 
proper times to the parents and friends of the pupils there. They were ad- 
mitted to a common parlor, and not permitted to enter any other room in that 
spacious establishment. No protestant eye ever saw the apartments of the 
Nuns, except on the occasion when the Selectmen of Charlestown exatnined 
the building by appointment, the day hefoic; the riot. Even the Phi/sicinn, 
aa we understand, never saw any of the Religieuse, to prescrhe for them, in 
their private; apartments ; when sick, they were attended by the infirmurian — 
one of their own order." 

Now I believe this whole paragraph is not true, — in point of fact, so far as it 
respects the Physician, I know it is absolutely and unqualifiedly false. In the 
narrative part, ftlies Reed labors to impress on her readers, that Miss M. Mag- 



5G 

dalene was treated with great cruelty. Miss IM. Magdalene, had a lay-sister, 
(Martha,) both died of consumption at the Convent, and were both attended 
by me. During their sickness, 1 believe they were both properly nursed and 
taken care of. 'The Superior often attended me in my visits to tliein, and al- 
ways manifested a kind concern for their care and support — and they had the 
best services of the experienced and faithful nurse or " iiijiniiarian,'" sister 
Mary Clair, acting under my directions. I visited Martha in her own apart- 
ment, and attended her there, till she died. In regard to Miss M. Magdalene, 
I once had a conversation with Miss Reed about her — Miss Reed, as I under- 
stood leaving the Convent, had been a good deal about Charlestown — and I 
had been told by several persons, that she said she wished very much to see 
Dr. Thompson — she wanted to ask him some important questions, and could 
tell him some terrible things about the Convent. In the latter part of June, or 
first of July, 1834, I met Miss Reed, for the first time in my life, at a house 
where 1 was attending a sick child. On being introduced to ftliss Reed, and 
speaking of the Convent, she brought up the case of Miss M. Magdalene, and 
asked me if I knew how much Miss M. Magdalene suffered. I asked her 
what sufferings she referred to. She replied : " Oh, Doctor, no tongue can 
tell what Miss M. Magdalene suffered." Again I entreated her to specify the 
kind of sufferings — did she mean that Miss M. Magdalene suffered from 
bodily plain, or distress of mind, or from cruel treatment ? — I begged her to tell 
me. 15ut in vain — all that I could get out of her was — that no tongue could 
tell, what M. M. RIagdalene suffered. I left Miss R. under a full conviction, 
that she was an artful girl — in reality telling nothing — yet insinuating dread- 
ful things ; but at the same time, craftily avoiding all responsibility. Nothing 
else about the Convent passed between us. 

ABM. R. THOMPSON. 

Middlesex, ss. Charlestown, April 3, 1835. Then Abraham R. Thomp- 
son personally appeared and made oath to the truth of the statement by him 
subscribed, as above written. 

Before me, John Soley, Justice of the Peace. 



The affidavit of Eliab Stone Brewer and Francis TV. Story is hereby an- 
nexed, to disprove cdlumnies lately alleged in some of the public j^rints, charg- 
ing the Ursuline Convent with selfishness. 

Having heard it had been asserted that no instance could be produced of any 
charities by the Ursuline Conmiunity, while resident upon Mount Benedict, I, 
Eliab Stone Brewer, of Boston, a Protestant, on the thirty-first day of ftlarch, 
1835, rode over to the neighborhood of Mount Benedict, with Francis \V. 
Story, to make inquiry upon the subject, having always heard that the Ursu- 
line Community was an order of charity, and being desirous of ascertaining the 
truth of this charge against them. 

We first went to Mrs. Kelley's. In answer to my inquiry of her, she said 
her children had frequently received money from the Community, and other 
kindnesses. 

We then went to Mr. Fitch Cutter's. Mrs. Cutter said that, upon one occa- 
sion, Mr. Cutter went with a subscription paper to the Lady Superior, where a 
man had lost his barn by fire, and she gave him ten dollars, and told him to 
call under similar circumstances, and she would always be willing to give. 
Mrs. C. Au'ther remarked, that she had been kind in many instances, but the 
general opinion was, that she did it to get the good will of her neighbors. 

We then went to Mrs. Fillebrovvn, at the place called Washington's Head 



57 

Quarters — said she had worked for the Ursuline Community, and th&t she 
must in truth say. that the Lady Superior was a very cliaritable woman. 

We tlien went to .Mrs. Stearnss, tlic second house on the Charlcstoirn side 
of the Convent gate. Slio had no personal knowledge of the Lady Superior, 
but liad Jieard many acts of lier kindness and charity. 

We tlien went to Mrs. Stevens's, wliere we saw a girl of about 15 years 
of age. Slie informed us, tliat once, wiien lier sister was taken sick, her 
inotlier was in want of old linen, and sent to tlie Lady Superior, who sent 
her the linen and other presents, and was very kind to her. 

We then went to Mr. Runey, Selectman : said he thought he had been 
ill treated by the Lady Suiierior ; but knew that she had given away a great 
deal, and mentioned several instances — aniouir others, , -Jo to liis son, for 
the •• Boy's Library; " $5::i to the Bunker Hill monument, &,c. «Jtc. We 
inquired no further, being satisfied, from what wo heard, that her hand waa 
always ready to extend relief while she had the means to give. We found 
but this general acknowledgment of her bounties from these persons, whom 
we inquired of at hazard, and without anv previous knowledge of them, or 
what they would say ; and we inquired of no other persons. 

ELI.AB STONK BREWER, 
FR.\>CIS WLNSHIP STORY. 

Commomcealth of Massachtisetls, 
Suffolk, April 2, 1835. 

Personally appeared the above-named Eliab Stone Brewer and Francis 
W. Story, and made oath that the foregoing statement, by them subscribed, 
is true. 

JONA. CHAP-%L\N, Justice of the Peace. 



It is with the sinccrest pleasure that the following Utter 
from the Boston Courier, by the Rev. Dr. Byrne, is submitted 
to the reader. His account of Miss R.'s baptism differs, though 
not materially , from the description of it in note to page 13, 
zchich was given from memory by one j) resent at the ceremony. 
A newspaper remarks upon the letter, that it contains mern as- 
sertions ! Does 31iss Reed do more than assert 7 

THE CONVENT. 

To THE Editor of the Coi'rif.k. — Sir — I find in Miss Reed's book 
about the Convent, recently published, that she attributes language to me, 
which, if used, as sUited by her, would be highly unbecoming and excep- 
tionable ; and, from the persual of it, some may suppose that I used, or 
endeavored to use, over Miss Ri'ed, an undue and improper influence. I 
pray you to allow me, through the columns of your paper, to endeavor to 
exculpate my character, by relating in what, and how far, I have been 
concerned in her reirard. Let a candid and impartial public then judge. 

In March, 16'M , Mrs. Graham, with whom I was then but slightly acquaint- 
ed, after the service and instructions I i^ave on a Wednesday evening in the 
Church, went into the Vestry, and told me there waa a young lady in the 
Church who wished to be introdu(;ed to me, but that she would not do it with- 
out my consent, at that late hour, and esjiecially as she knew but little of her 
herself She then introduced Miss Reed, to wltom, after a short conversation, 
8 



68 

1 said, 1 would gladly see her at my house, when she could conveniently call, 
and would give her any inlbrination she required about the Cctholic religion. 
Mrs. Graham afterwards infoniied me, tliat Miss Reed had called on her 
before, to accompany her to the evening instruction in the Catholic Church, 
but that she could not go on that evening ; that when Miss Reed called on 
her on tlie evening she introduced her, she told her she could not go, on 
account of her daughter's sickness ; but seeing Miss Reed burst into tears 
at the disappointment, she requested a fiiend to remain with her daughter, 
»itd accompanied Miss Reed to the Church, not knowing, all the time, that 
BJisa Reed wanted to be introduced to me ; that it was only on the termi- 
nation of the instruction. Miss Reed expressed her wish to that effect; and 
that, on remonstrating with her on account of the lateness of the hour. Miss 
Reed declared she would not leave tiie Church until introduced. Would it 
be unreasonable, now, to suppose that Miss Reed acted thus in consequence 
of the resolution she had formed, as mentioned in page 52 of the Narrative, 
to become acquainted with some one who would introduce her to the Supe- 
rior of the Ursuline Community, and of having been foiled in her interview 
witli Bi.shop Fenwick, alluded to in page 5(S — that it was fortius purpose she 
got herself introduced to Mrs. Graham — and that it was not Mrs. Graham 
that first urged and requested her to see me, as intimated in pages 00 and 61 .' 

Mis!« Reed, in page IbG of her Narrative, leaves it to the reader to judge 
of her motives for becomiiig a member if the Ursuline Community. She 
has not, at least as far as I have been able to discover, told the reader what 
motives first induced her to think of becoming a Catholic. She states in 
her letter to her friends (page 36), that her mother, previous to her death, 
reminded her of the solemn obligation she had taken upon herself at the time 
of her baptism in the Episcopal Church in Cambridge ; and also that she 
had consulted with Rev. Mr. Croswell, Pastor of Christ Church, Boston, 
previously to her joining the Catholics. She informed me, whilst coming for 
instruction, that she had seen the Rev. Mr. Croswell previously to her 
joining the Catholics. Would it be a wrong conclusion, if the attentive 
reader of her Narrative were to attribute her motives for becoming a Catholic, 
to her strong desire of becoming an inmate of the Convent ? 

In a few days after being introduced to me. Miss Reed called at my 
house, accompanied by another person (I believe a Miss Hawkins). When 
questioned as to her motives for wishing to join the Catholic Church, she 
told rae, several times, that it was in compliance with her mother's wishes and 
request, expressed to her (Miss Reed) on her death bed. Will not this appear 
strangely in contradiction to what she has stated in her letter to her friends ? 
She also told me, more than once, that her mother would have died a Catholic, 
had she had an opportunity ; and that her mother had told her so. I said to 
her, that, in choosing her religion, it was well to pay some attention to her par- 
ent's advice ; but that she must be influenced, not by any worldly motives or 
considerations, but chiefly and solely by a love of truth, and a desire to serve 
God in the best manner ; and in giving her books, I desired her to examine 
them carefully, to compare the passages of Scripture' in them with her Bible, 
not to pass over any until fully satisfied and convinced of its truth, and if she 
should not understand any part, to mark the page, that it might be explained 
when she called again. When Miss Reed first came to me, she was staying, 
or, as she would have it, visiting, in a family of the name of Hawkins ; and I 
believe she did not live with her father from that time until she left the Con- 
vent. She stated to me, that her father had driven her from his house, or that 
she was obliged to leave it, on account of his ill treatment to her in consequence 
of her determination to become a Catholic. In a few weeks after being intro- 
duced to me, she came to reside at No. 2!» Austin street. I was informed this 
arrangement was made by persons who heard her account of the ill treatment, 
and of her fear of her friends, and who, witnessing her desire, wished she 
might have a better opportunity of coming to me for instruction. She contin- 
ued to reside in Mr. Hoyne's family in Austin street, and occasionally in Mr. 
Payne's, opposite the Catholic Church in Richmond street, until she went to 



.-31) 

the (^onvont As slip stiifos in \tniro C'>. that sho employed herself while 
tlicre ill doiiijr oriianifiital «-r>rk I'or li.r I "alhoiic frifiids, and also in workinff 
lacL- for the liislio|.. the altar, Ac. — and ajrain in the m-jt pa-re, that her 
time was wholly employed in working fir the Catholics; some niay suppose 
that a p;u-t. at least, of this work was Jor ni-', or for the altar in our Church. 
I never received from Miss Reed any thinij f )r myself, or for the churcii or 
for the altar. ' " ' 

Having directed her attention to it, and inquired about her former baptism 
I considered there was a reasonable do-ibt as to its validity, from the miinner 
in which she informed me it was administered ; and not, us some tuiirht be 
led to suppose from what she mentions en the subject (page (Mi), because 
Catholics consider baptisjii administered by Protestants generally 'nvahd. 
I informed her she might be received by the name of Rebecca Theresa, or 
any other she preferred ; and she herself chose Mary Agnes Theresa. 
Then, atler about thre<> months' instruction, I administered baptism to her 
by this name, using the conditional form, " If thou art not baptir.ed, I baptize 
thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son. and of the iloly (ihost." 
I was not her sponsor. She continued receiving instructions for about three 
months longer, before she was admitted to the Holy Eucharist or Com- 
munion. 

After Miss Reed went to Mr. Hoyne's, she came to me for instruction gen- 
erally once or twice a week, and sometimes oftener. On many of these oc- 
casions, she used to e.vpress the strongest desire that she could get into the 
Convent; she did not care in what capacity. She often said that if she 
could not succeed in this, she would go and retire into a cave or grotto in 
Boscawen, New Hampshire. I always advised her not to think ol joininr 
any religious order, at least for some years, until she would be fully and 
thoroughly acquainted with the Catholic religion, and with the duties that 
would, in such a place, be required of her. After seeing some sjn'cimens of 
her writing, and being able to judge, as I then imagined, of her disposition, 
I used to tell her that I thought she would not, and could not, be received 
as an Ursuline at Mount Benedict ; and every time 1 said so to her, she would 
hold down her head, and appear to cry, and sometimes to sob. On the saine 
page (Gl) where she mentions having heard an affecting sermon on Good 
Frida}' evening (which was April 1st), she says, that by this lime she had 
become a constant visitor at the Convent. And from other parts of the Nar- 
rative, a person might suppose that she had frequently visited, and been well 
acquainted with the Superior, even before she was introduced to me. This, 
however, I believe, was not the case. Miss Reed had been a considerable 
time at Mr. Hoyne's before I yielded to her oft-repeated entreaties to give 
her a letter of introduction to the Superior; and when 1 did so, it did not 
procure for Miss Reed the desired interview. It was only when I next saw 
the Superior, and told her that I did not consider Miss Reed a fit person to 
become a member of their Community, that is, an Ursuline, that my object 
in wishing her to see Miss Reed, was, that perhaps she (the Superior) might 
succeed in disabusing her of her notions about becomii.g a nun : it was, I say, 
only after this explanation, that the Sii])erior consented, and even then with 
some reluctance, to see Miss Reed. 

In her letter to her friends, Miss Reed mentions (page 37), that when she 
began to write her Narrative, she was aide to make only memoranda. I 
suppose she mc^int to show how irood her memory was. by marking; as quo- 
tations, language that sin- attributes to me as well as to others. Now, if it be 
shown that her memory failed her, — that she contradicts hersell" — and that 
too in matters which may well Iw supposed to have made on a mind like 
Miss Reed's a deep and lasting impression. — will it tx* iinreasonabh' to con- 
clude that she mistakes, to say tin; least of it. in other [larts of hi-r .Narrative .' 
In page 72, she says that on Sabbath moniiug. August 5th, f-;(l,she was 
attended to the gate of the Convent by her friend Mrs. CJrnham. that is, 
when she went to reside at the Convent. After sighing so long, and de- 
siring so ardently to become an inmate of the Convent, surely Miss Reed 



60 

Would not easily forget the liappy d;iy when all her wishes were realized. To 
show that she did not, she marks the day and date ; and as if to show Uie 
more particularly, this is the only date she gives in the whole of her Nar- 
rative, at least as far as I have been able to discover. Now, 1 beg you to ob- 
serve, first, that the 5th of August, in 18:51, fell not on a Sabbath or Sunday, 
but on Friday; next, she slates (page GG), that she stood sponsor for Mrs. 
Graham's daughter ; now, this, according to the record made of it at the time, 
was September 4th, 1831. Further: 1 received three notes from the Supe- 
rior relative to Miss Reed, bearing date August r2th, September 2d, and Sep- 
tember nth, 1831. In the one dated September 2d, the Superior writes: 
" I think it best that Miss Reed should make her Confession and Communion 
before she enters;" and in the one of September 11th, '• If she (Miss Reed) 
has made it (her first conuaunion) to-day, will you be kind enough to direct 
her to come here, immediately after High Mass .^ " Now, let the impartial 
reader compare these dates with that given by Miss Reed, and judge. 

On p,-ige G7, Miss Reed says she was questioned by the Superior with re- 
gard to a conversation which took place between her brother and herself on 
Charlestown Bridge, an account of which was published in the Jesuit, highly 
exaggerated, aa she says. If you look at the following pages, you will, 1 am 
confident, say that the interview at which the questions were, if at all, asked, 
must have taken place some time before she went to reside at the Convent. 
Now, if Miss Reed was right instating that she went to the Convent August 
the 5th (1), how did she know of the publication in the Jesuit of August Gth, 
relative to that conversation .'' Did she read the Jesuit in the Convent .'' 
Does she say that such reading occupied any part of her time while there ? 
When did she ask me, as mentioned in a note at the bottom of page G7, to 
explain to her what that publication meant? When did I promise to have it 
corrected .' By whom was the conversation exaggerated .'' By way of ex- 
planation, let me relate how the meeting with her brother occurred, and the 
account given of it at the time by Miss Reed herself. For some time pre- 
vious to June 12th, Ellen Munnigle, of Milkrow, then about 14 years of age, 
used to come, with others, to the Church to get instructions, preparatory to 
receiving Communion and Confirmation. On one of these occasions, this girl 
called to see Miss Reed, who, then, living very retired (see note page 70), 
was advised to accompany this girl, for the sake of a walk, on the Prison 
Bridge, leading from Charlestown to the Canal or Cragie's Bridge. When 
she saw her brother, she desired the girl to go off quick. There was, then, 
no one to give any account of the conversation, but Miss Reed and her 
brother. By whom was it exaggerated .' Miss Reed returned to Mr. Payne's 
in tears, much excited, and apparently in danger of swooning. She urged 
Mrs. Payne, in the most pressing manner, to go for me immediatelJ^ Not 
being at home at the time, I did not see Miss Reed until after night-fall. 
When I called, I found Miss Reed still in tears, and was informed by her 
and by Mrs. Payne, to whom she had already told the story, that her brother 
met her on the bridge, shook her violently by the arm, and threatened to 
throw her over into the water. Thinking the story to be true, I mentioned 
it a few days afterwards to Dr. O'Flaherty, in Boston, without the least in- 
tention or expectation that it would be made public. And though the meet- 
ing occurred in the beginning of June, nothing relative to it was published 
in the Jesuit until August. Now, if no such conversation took place between 
her brother and herself, why did she say that it did .' Was it to excite in her 
behalf the greater sympathy of the Catholics .' Let the candid reader judge if 
she was likely to ask me to c-xjilain what the publication of it meant. 

The next morning after JNIiss Reed left the Convent, JNIrs. Graham's 
brother, Mr. James Manson, called on me, told me the circumstances, and 



1 To cr;t rid of lliis contrairicliiiu, it is now said tliiit tlie date was misprinted, and tliat 
it slionld he Aup;. 7tli. Hut the (iilticiilty, tlip render will perceive, is not got over by this 
forrection. The time is not i';inied I'erw.crd I'nr rnniisli. 



61 

requested I would go and s<o her. I told liitii. in reply, that from tJic 
manner in which slu- letl the Convent, and the languaire lie said she used 
at Mr. Kidder's (llie h.iuse to which Miss Heed went on making her 
escape). 1 sujiposed Miss lleed ilid not want to see nic. and 1 declined ijoing. 
He said Mrs. Cirahani Iclt very anxious and apprehensive lest siie niijrht be 
blamed I'or what she had done in rcj^ard to Miss Reed, and wished to ask 
my advice ; I then promised to go in the allernoon. 1 would here remark, 
tliat neither Mrs. Graham nor lier brother were members ol' Uie Catholic 
Church at that time, nor lor a long time alter; and i beli(?ve that Miss 
Heed's language and conduct contributed not a little to induce them to 
become Catholics. When 1 went to Milkrow, Mrs. Graham re[)eated to 
nie the circumstances of the jtrecedinjr evening, and said Miss Reed wished 
to see me. At this interview with Miss Reed, during which I took care 
that other persons should be present, 1 expressed my regret for Jier leaving 
the Convent ais she did, knowing that she might have left it otherwise, if 
she wislied ; and my hope that she wovild not make it more public, fearing 
lest it might redound to the injury oi'the Convent. She accused the Bishop 
and Superior, but in general terms, of being bad, wicked per.sons. When 
pressed to tell what the Superior had done to her, she said she deceived her, 
by promising her at one time that she would be admitted to become an 
Ursuliue, and telling her, at other times, she would not. I said to her, Uiat 
if the Superior had acted wrong towards her, I hoped she would not do so, 
by now forsaking the religion she had embraced after mature deliberation. 
Miss Reed appeared to get angry, even at tlie suggestion of such an idea, 
and said she would die sooner than abandon her religion. Seeing a sheet 
of paper on the table by her side, with a i'ew words written on it, 1 asked 
what slie had been writinjj. She then showed me a slate, on which was 
written the draught of a letter, she said, to Miss Kennedy, in New York 
(tlie person so often mentioned by tlie name of Mary Francis), informing her 
of the step she had taken (1). and asking her advice and a.ssistance to get 
to the Sisters of Charity at Emmelsburg. I did not say, as she states in 
page I7d, that I had conveyed a novice to the Sisters of Charity. Not only 
I had not done so, but at that time iiad not advised or recommended any 
persons to go to that Institution. I did not olfer to convey Miss Reed to 
them, for I knew they would not receive her. She exjiressed her fears that 
the Catholics would kill her for having run away from the Convent. I 
told her she need not be the least alarmed or uneasy on that account. Had 
she reallv any such fears .' Besides Mrs. Graliam's daughter, there was 
another Catholic, Mr. Barr, in the house ; and after remaining five weeks 
in that house, she spent more than a week witli Mr. and Mrs. Payne, boUi 
Catholics. It was not until the next day after this interview with Miss 
Reed, I informed the Superior where siie was. On Saturday, the yist, I 
again went to Milkrow, saw and conversed witli Miss Ret.-d in the presence 
of Mr. Barr, who otl'ered to retire, but at my request remained. The 
account of this second interview, as given in pages LSI and 1^2 of the 
narrative, is entirely incorrect. It is not true that Miss Reed did not 
consent to see me until after much persuasion from Mrs. Graham. Mrs. 
Graham was not at home at the time. She had "roue to the Convent, in 
compliance with the recjui st in the Superioi's letter, which she received the 
prccedinnr day. I tlien knew nothin<r of Miss Reed's father or relations, 
but what I had learned from Miss Reed herself; so that even if I had 
spoken as she states, wJiich I deny, it must have been upon the strcngtli of 
her own information. I did not ask her to go to the Superior, for I well 
knew the Superior did not wish to see her. So far from saying she did not 
then believe in the Catholic religion, she expresst.'d her hopes of getting to 
the Sisters of Charity, through the assistance of Miss Kennedy. She did 

1 That she did not actually inform MIbs K. of thn " stpp alio land taken," in her first 
letter, is, however, it is lidifvrd, siisi-pptilik- nl" r|r:ir proot'. 



62 

not say she believed I would take her life, or that ske would not trust her- 
self in my clutches again. No, no. She did not, at least, seem to entertain 
such a bad opinion of me. For, the next morning after she received the 
letter mentioned in page 184, she came to my room alone, to show me the 
letter, and to ask my advice. In that letter Miss Kennedy expressed her 
regret for the manner in which Miss Reed had left the Convent, and 
advised her not to let it be known to any one, but to the good lady (Mrs. 
Graham) to whose house she had gone, and to her confessor. 1 asked why 
she did not follow Miss Kennedy's advice in this respect, as she pretended 
lo have done in leaving the Convent; and reminded her that I was not her 
confessor since she had gone to the Convent. I have thought it was this 
expression of mine, that induced Miss Reed to go to confession to me in the 
afternoon of the same day. In a i'evf days she came again to my room, and 
.alone. She did not appear much afraid to trust herself in my clutches, or 
that I would take her life. She asked my advice what to do, and wished 
she could get to New York. I again directed her attention to Miss Ken- 
nedy's letter, and showed her that Miss Kennedy promised nothing specific, 
but only that she would do all in her power to procure her (Miss Reed) a 
situation, if she did go to New York. I told her that, considering all the 
circumstances, the only advice I could give her, was to try to get into some 
family where she might support herself by her work, or to return to her 
friends; and that I feared, if she did the latter, she would be prevailed upon 
4[)r induced to forsake the Catholic religion. When I mentioned this, she 
held down her head, and seemed to cry, as formerly; and declared, as 
she did at Milkrow, that she would never abandon her religion ; and 
hoped 1 had a better opinion of her than to think she would ever do such 
a thing. 

Having by this time some suspicions of her sincerity, I watched her 
more closely than I used on former occasions, and perceived that not only 
•there were no streams of tears flowing down her cheeks, but that not a 
drop even appeared in her eyes. Next day, she sent Mrs. Payne again to 
ask my advice. Mrs. Payne told me that Miss Reed had sent her, the day 
before, with a message to her sister in Boston, and that her friends did not 
appear very anxious for her return to them. Miss Reed often expressed 
a wish, since she left the Convent, and particularly to Mrs. Payne, that 
I would employ her as organist in our Church. I desired Mrs. Payne to 
tell Miss Reed that I had no advice to send her, but what I gave herself 
the preceding day. Miss Reed, now finding she would not be supported 
idle by her Catholic friends, sent for her brother, with whom she left 
Mr. Payne's. Her father, I was told, had called to see her a few days 
before. 

Since Miss Reed left the Convent, I have heard much of her crucifying 
herself, and other of her antics, before she went to the Convent ; but, as 
they did not come under my own observation, I will not mention them 
here. I will say, however, that unquestionably, had 1 been informed of 
them at the proper time, I would not have so easily received her, nor ad- 
mitted her to Communion, even after about six months' instruction. 

Now, with regard to the facts, and circumstances, and conversations, 
which I have mentioned as having occurred in the presence, and within the 
knowledge of other persons, I can confidently appeal to these persons to 
confirm the truth of them as by me stated. As to the conversations that 
took place between Miss Reed and myself, when no other person was 
present, and concerning which she is either silent, or gives a different 
version from what 1 have stated, I would ask the reader to bear in mind, 
that, besides the difference of her stories to me, and, I may add, to others, 
concerning, for instance, her mother, the conversation with her brother, and 
what she states, concerning these, in her book, she herself acknowledges 
that she acted with duplicity and dissimulation in the Convent; and then I 
,do not hesitate to leave to a candid and impartial public to judge between 
Miss Reed's veracity and mine. When it is considered that she acted thus in 



65 

the Convent, according to lier own acknowledgment, will it appear incredi- 
ble to suppose, that she was capable of acting with similar dissimulation 
on other occasions ? 

I remain, sir, you obedient servant, 

P. BYRNE. 

Ckarlestown, March 31, 1835. 



The letters of Hiram O. Alden, Esq., to Judge Fay, and 
Miss Alden's letters enclosed, referred to in the " Preliminary 
Remarks." 

Belfast, Me. Sept. 4, 1834. 

Sir : — Herewith you will receive two letters from my sister, Caroline, 
in answer to yours recently addressed to her. Inasmuch as she has sub- 
mitted them to my perusal, I cannot forbear to add (although unsolicited, 
and notwithstanding I am a Protestant in my own religious views and feel- 
ings) my testimony in corroboration of some facts stated by her. 

In the year 18"27, she, before entering the Convent, resided with me, in 
Belfast. In 1831, she wrote me, e.\pressing a desire to return to her 
friends. Although I had disapproved of the first step, I wrote her that she 
was at liberty to return, and make my house again her home. She accord'' 
inirly returned, and has since resided with her friends here. She has never 
intimated that she was under any restraint, which prevented her from 
leaving the Convent before, but, on the contrary, always said she was at 
/lerfert liOrrttj to leave when she chose. She then and still entertains the 
liighest respect for the character of the Ursuline Community. She regards 
them as worthy Christians, actuated by a sincerity of profession, and a 
(lurity of purpose, to be found only in those who are, in truth, devoted to 
the service of God. But as strongly attached as she was to the Lady Supe- 
rior, and her estimable Community, — as much as she loved and respected 
tiiose whom she believed to have dedicated themselves to a pure life and a 
holy conversation — still she found she had a stronfrer tie to her Protestant 
friends. Unable to subdue her natural affections, she could not oveicome 
her desire to return to her kindred. But the e.xalted terms of affection, in 
which she always speaks of the Superior and the members of her Com- 
munity — the veneration she has for their religious institutions and forms 
of worship — are a sulRcient guaranty that her statements in relation to the 
character of both, arc the undisguised sentiments of her heart. 

She has recommended the school at the Convent as one deserving the 
patronage of every parent, who has a daughter to educate, whether they be 
Catholic or Protestant (there being no interference with the religious 
opinions of the scholar) ; and I had some time since come to tlie determina- 
tion to send my daughter there, as soon as she arrives at a suitable age. 
Her commendation of the principles upon which the school was conducted, 
inclined me to the belief that it was the most suitable seminary, within my 
knowledge, for the education of female youth. 

Thus much I have been constrained to say, hoping it may subserve the 
cause of truth and justice — for I hold it to be the duty of every good citizen, 
in this land of ours, where aJl religions are tolerated, to raise his voice and 
his arm against the Jirnt attempt at religious oppression or intolerance ; and 
if the recent vile outrage against liberty and law, committed upon the 
unoffending members of the Ursuline Community, should be traced to 
that source, those religious zealots and fanatics who have aided, alxUted or 
countenanced such a shameful violation of private rights, should be exposed, 
and held up to the withering indignation of a Christian community. 

Ve»y respectfully, your obt. servt. 

HIRAM O. ALDEN. 



64 

Belfast, Sept. 4th, 1834. 

Sir : — I have received your letter, and hasten to give you an early 
answer. The task is not a pleasant one, under such circumstances. No 
delicacy of feeling, however, shall withhold me from doing justice, as far 
as lies in my power, to that estimable and never-to-be-forgotten Com- 
munity. 

In the month of Dec. 1827, I entered the Ursuline Convent, Mt. Bene- 
dict, as a candidate for that Community. After remaining about two years, 
I became convinced that 1 had no vocation for that state of life. Having 
become exceedingly attached to the Lady Superior and those of her Com- 
munity, I felt an unwillingness to leave. I found, however, that it was 
vain to think of couipelling myself to remain, and immediately made known 
my feelings on the subject to the Lady Superior. So far from meeting with 
the least opposition, she replied, that, " strongly as she was attached, and 
dearly as she loved me, she must advise me to go, if I saw that I could not 
be happy there;" for, she continued, '• no one can judge of that so well as 
j^ourseif — it must be left to your own decision;" telling me, at the same 
time, that " their rules and constitutions did not allow any one to remain 
there, but such as found their happiness there, and there only." She told 
me that I was at liberty to go whenever I pleased, and should be provided 
with every thing requisite for my departure — which was done tico years 
after ; having remained there that length of time, merely from personal 
attachment to the Lady Superior, and her no less worthy Comnmnity. 
During my residence there (a period of four years), I can truly say, that 1 
never saw one action to censure. 

Their character is as unimpeachable as their conduct is pure and blame- 
less. I can assure you, that as they appear in the parlor, so are they in 
their most unguarded moments — no unbending from that sweetness and 
affability of manner, which characterize thezn all. Every duty, both tem- 
poral and spiritual, is discharged with the greatest fidelity. The love of 
God and hope of heaven is the motive for every action. As teachers, 
nothing can exceed the care, attention and kindness, which is bestowed on 
all placed under their instruction. As persons secluded from the world and 
devoted to God, their purity of conversation and moral principles, their 
nobleness of soul, their charity, kindness, and forbearance to each other, 
cannot fail of being a most edifying example to those around them. 

My situation in that Community was such as to render me thoroughly 
acquainted with every member, and every part of the house. And I 
solemnly assure you, that there was not the least thing existing there, that 
any person could disapprove, were he ever so prejudiced. 

As it regards the school, I have ever recommended it to every parent, as 
the only secure place for the education of daughters in New England, or 
even in the United States. I say secure, for so I consider it, in respect to 
the allurements held out to a young mind, by a fascinating world, in most 
of the boarding-schools. With respect to Mrs. Mary John, I was there the 
day after her return to the Convent. I saw her in the parlor ; she told me 
she had been very ill. At that time I knew nothing of her unfortunate 
departure. I found Dr. Tliompson there also, who prohibited my seeing 
the Superior for the space of five days, in consequence of one of her eyes 
being dangerously affected. At the expiration of that time, I passed the 
day there; saw Mrs. Mary John, — who told me the particulars of her 
going; — said she could not realize that it was so; expressed the greatest 
horror at having taken such a step, and said that she would prefer death to 
leaving. She has been in that Comnmnity 13 years ; has had the black 
veil 11 years. She always appeared perfectly happy, and I have no doubt 
but she was so, as we have had many conversations on that subject. She 
has told me repeatedly that she could never cease to be thankful for hav- 
ing been called to that happy state of life. If she had changed her mind, 
she had only to say so, to be free as I am at present. Never, I can assure 
you, in that Community, has there been, or can there be, according to 



65 

the rules and constitutions of the order, any improper restraint inriposcd on 
any person entering there. While 1 was a resident there, several left uithout 
tlie least opposition on the part of the Superior, or any other person. 

.As it respects the sick, uotliing, I can assure you, can be fuither from the 
truth, than the assertions of that abandoned girl, (.Miss Kci-d.) I or never, in 
any place or by any persons, (I will r.ot acce|jt«ven my own parents' house) 
have I received greater kindness or more attention in sic.vness, than during my 
stay in that house. 

I send an answer to your second with this. The music, which accidentally 
fell in my way, was in possession of a .Mr. James Gordon, of Charlestown ; 
he has returned there. IJe said that it was picked up near the ruins. Dr. 
Thompson will inform you of his place of residence. 

With the greatest respect, I remain, 

CAROLINE FRANCIS ALDEN. 



Belfast, Sept. Ath, 1834. 

Sir : — T will now proceed ti give you all the information in my posse.ssion 
of that abandoned girl, who calls herself Miss Reed. Abandoned I think ahe 
must be, who has lost ull regard to truth. 

1 have never yet heard one report coming from her, respecting the Ursuline 
Co;nmunity, but the blackest, foulest J\ihehvo I. I may not have heard them 
all. Perhaps it would be well to enuri.erate a few — such as their inliuman 
treatment of the sick. As I said in my first letter, a more false statement, con- 
cerning that Community, cannot Le uttered. 

As I was treated there, so were others, and that was with extreme tender- 
ne.'<s. If any were sic'*, they always had a physician to prescribe, ai:d an ex- 
perienced infirinarian to attend them. This same sister .\faiy Magdalene, of 
whose su'iferings she has said so much, had two own sisters to attend her, in 
her last illness, one of whom re'ated to me every circumstance together witli 
the false statements of tliat abandont'd ^irl. 

I .in not personally acquainted with Miss Reed, having left there a few 
n onths previous to her entrance. My name there was Mrs. Mary Angela. 
Mrs. Mary Francis I knew well ; we were there at the same time. 1 did not 
know but she was happy thdre ; she never to'd me to the contrary. She waa 
a Miss Kennedy fiom New-Vork ; she is at present a Sister of Charity iu Bal- 
timore. .Mi-s Reed remained at the Convent six months on chaiity ; com- 
menced her studies there between two and three years since. Her music 
she commenced there. And now, where is she? — a tencher of female yout/i, 
in what is called a renpectable school ! 

You may make what use you please of either of these letters ; I leave it en- 
tirely to your belter judgment. 

With much respect I remain, &c. 

CAROLINE F. ALDEN. 



Certlfica'e of Sifter Miry A'mtin a^il Sister Miry Joseph, natural sisters 
of the late Mary Afagdalene, referrel to by Miss Reel. 

We, the undersigned, natural sisters of Mrs. Mary Magdalene, do hereby 
certify, that we were with her, from the day she entered the Convent to her 
decease, and are witnesses to the humanity and kindness with which she was 
invariably treated by the Superior and all the Community, particularly during 

9 



6G 

her last illness. Hereby, we likewise certify, that we were present when the 
last Sacraments were administered to her, and were witnesses to her calm and 
happy dedth. 

Sister MARY AUSTIN, 
Sister MARY JOSEPH. 



Certificate of Benedict Fenwick, Bishop of Boston. 

I certify, that I have read Miss Reed's book entitled " Six Months in a Con- 
vent," and pronounce it, so far as her statements connect me with her various 
relations, to be so exaggerated and distorted as to make the truth wiioily lost 
to the sight. Her story of taking the veil is entirely a fabrication, and is 
against the rules and orders of the Community, which, as Bishop, I should re- 
gret to see broken. I am induced to n)ention this particularly, as an instance 
of deliberate falsehood, in which, by possibility, there could be no ujistake on 
her part. Miss Reed left the Convent 18th January, 1832, of which fact I 
have certain knowledge, from memoranda made at the time. I have not the 
same means of knowledge as to the time of her entry. 

BENEDICT FENWICK, 

Bishop of Boston. 



NOTE. 

The " Rules of St. Augustine," and the " Institutions of the Ursuline Comniunity," 
were prepared for the press, but as the Answer has extended to an unexpected length, it 
has been thought advisable to postpone their publication, until the other documentary ev- 
idence shall be fully prepared — so that they may be printed together. The future pub- 
lications will in the same form with the present work, so that they may be bound up 
together. 



ANSWER 



SIX MONTHS IN A C0NVSN7. 



BY THE LADY SUPERIOR. 



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